18% on parking, and 14.5% on hotel accommodations. Portions of the hotel and restaurant meals tax rate are allocated to the Convention Center Fund. Groceries, prescription and non-prescription drugs, and residential utilities services are exempt from the district's sales tax. The district once had two sales tax holidays each year, one during "back-to-school" and one immediately preceding Christmas. The "back to school" tax holiday was repealed on May 12, 2009. On January 1, 2010, the district began levying a 5-cent-per-bag tax on each plastic or paper bag provided by a retailer at the point of sale, if that retailer sells food or alcohol. The retailer retains one cent of the tax, or two cents if it offers a refund to customers for bringing their own bags. The remaining three or four cents goes to the district's Anacostia River cleanup fund. Florida Florida has a general sales tax rate of 6%. Miami-Dade County, like most Florida counties, has an additional county sales surtax of 1%. The tax is imposed on the sale or rental of goods, the sale of admissions, the lease, license, or rental of real property, the lease or rental of transient living accommodations, and the sale of a limited number of services such as commercial pest control, commercial cleaning, and certain protection services. There are a variety of exemptions from the tax, including groceries and prescriptions. Sales tax and discretionary sales surtax are calculated on each taxable transaction. Florida uses a bracket system for calculating sales tax when the transaction falls between two whole dollar amounts. Multiply the whole dollar amount by the tax rate (6 percent plus the county surtax rate) and use the bracket system to figure the tax on the amount less than a dollar. The Department of Revenue has rate tables (Form DR-2X) to assist residents. A "discretionary sales surtax" may be imposed by the counties of up to 2.5%, charged at the rate of the destination county (if shipped). This is 1% in most counties, 0.5% in many, and 1.5% in a few such as Leon. Effective in 2019, Hillsborough County's surtax rate was raised to 2.5%. A few counties have no additional surtax. Most have an expiration date, but a few do not. Only the first $5,000 of a large purchase is subject to the surtax rate. Most counties levy the surtax for education or transportation improvements. There are annual sales tax