Early in his career, French served as deputy director of the Office of Technical Assistance and Dispute Resolution of the Florida Department of Revenue, where he oversaw more than 50 department attorneys, accountants, and auditors in charge of legal guidance, agency rulemaking, and informal audit protests. He also served as the department’s legislative and cabinet affairs director. In this role, French worked directly with legislators, long-standing legislative staff, the governor, and cabinet offices.
Since returning to private practice, French has been a key contributor to and advocate for significant tax legislation moving through the Florida capitol. As representative for some of the state’s largest trade associations and taxpayers, he has directly worked on and advocated for tax legislation to benefit companies and taxpayers alike. French’s work has contributed to billions of dollars in reduced state and local taxes, including more than a billion dollars in corporate income tax refunds paid in 2020 and 2022. He also was instrumental in promoting Florida’s adoption of remote seller and marketplace facilitator provisions following the US Supreme Court’s 2018 Wayfair decision.
In 2018, French served as counsel to the successful constitutional proposal to permanently preserve the state’s annual 10% cap on commercial property tax increases, which passed with 66.5% of the public vote. In the course of his efforts, he advocated for his clients before the Constitutional Revision Commission to further the development of sound state tax and budget policies.
