A House panel today approved $436 million in proposed tax cuts.

The new proposal is a far cry from the $690 million tax cut package the full House approved last month. Under the new proposal, the average cell phone user would eventually save up to $20 a year – instead of $40.  

Chairman Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican, says it will do the most good in poverty stricken neighborhoods.

“The people for whom this cell phone tax and communications services tax reduction will mean the most, they’ll be the people who live in those struggling communities. They’ll be the people for whom ten or twenty dollars, that’s whether or not your child gets to go on the end of the year field trip.”

The tax package also would revive a popular, back-to-school sales tax holiday and give college students three days each year to shop for tax-free textbooks. Businesses would get a slight reduction in the sales taxes they pay on their leases.

The proposal is expected to reach the House floor on Thursday.

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