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Florida approves 10 tax-free holidays for essentials like gas and diapers

Published May 6, 2022 at 5:42 PM EDT

FILE - A woman presses button to fill up a gas tank at a gas station in East Dundee, Ill., Saturday, March 19, 2022. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday, April 26, that its consumer confidence index — which takes into account consumers’ assessment of current conditions and their outlook for the future — edged down to 107.3 in April from 107.6 in March. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

A variety of items, from diapers to gas, will be tax-free in Florida over coming months thanks to a bill approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

House Bill 7071 gives Floridians 10 sales tax holidays for items like school supplies and clothes, according to the governor's office. The deals start this month and continues through October, when a month-long gas tax holiday will be in effect.

DeSantis said in a statement: "In Florida, we are going to support our residents and help them afford the goods that they need. Florida has been fiscally responsible, so we are in a good position to provide meaningful relief for families, right now."

Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls called it "the largest middle-class tax relief package in the history of the state."

Americans are seeing rising costs for household essentials.

The price of oil shot up after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The average price of gasoline in the U.S. increased to over $4 a gallon and has remained there since, according to data from the American Automobile Association.

This week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point in an attempt to push back against rising inflation.