Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waded into the debate over gas stoves, proposing all gas appliances be exempt from sales tax in The Sunshine State.
Tucked into the nearly $115 billion budget is a $7 million permanent exemption on gas appliances – a move DeSantis argued “needs to be done.”
"They want your gas stove and we’re not going to let that happen,” he said. “And we’re not even a state – the way Florida was built, a lot of this wasn’t even connected to gas lines, you got a lot of electric stuff, but it’s just the principle of, you know, this is ridiculous that they – and they do want to go after it. They got blowback, so they kind of had to back off. They want to go after the gas stoves and so we’re saying, you know, we want you to be able to buy those free of charge from the state of Florida."
The Framework for Freedom budget abolishes sales tax for:
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 1, 2023
- Baby necessities including diapers, wipes, clothes, strollers and cribs
- Over-the-counter pet medications
- Gas stoves pic.twitter.com/WhJtN8jNNR
The move comes after U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission official Richard Trumka Jr. suggested in an interview with Bloomberg that they could be banned in the future over the alleged health risk they pose. While CPSC later walked back that comment and assured Americans no one is coming for their gas stoves, Democrat politicians in other parts of the country have been pursuing a ban on them for years. California, for example, bars gas appliances in new construction and New York will become the largest city in the country to ban gas-powered stoves, heaters, and boilers in new builds starting next year. Other cities are looking to follow suit as well.
On Thursday, Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Ted Cruz introduced the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, which would block CPSC from banning gas stoves.
“The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner, which is why Senator Cruz and I introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure Americans decide how to cook in their own homes," Manchin said in a statement. "I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave our house is the gas stove we cook on, and I will continue to fight any overreach by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.”