A tax break that was supposed to help struggling urban communities is instead padding the profits of one of the biggest and richest corporations in the world
Tallahassee, FL — State Representative Anna. V. Eskamani (D-Orlando) has filed legislation to eliminate a broken corporate tax break that is being abused by big businesses including theme-park giant Universal Orlando.
HB 6043 would repeal Florida’s “Urban High-Crime Area Job Tax Credit Program,” a tax break created more than 20 years ago that was supposed to draw investment to poverty-stricken urban communities around the state. But it has instead become a permanent taxpayer subsidy for Universal Studios, the Orlando resort that is owned by Comcast Corp. — one of the world’s biggest and most profitable corporations.
Since 1999, Florida taxpayers have paid out about $34.8 million through the high-crime incentive program — and $17.4 million of that has been paid to Universal’s theme parks and hotels. Walmart ($2.5 million) and Publix ($1 million) have also profited off the program.
Even the law’s original sponsors, who wanted to help neglected communities like Orlando’s Historic Black neighborhood Parramore, say the program has been abused. But the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature has repeatedly refused to reform the program because Universal has lobbied against it.
“Florida is suffering through a deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has been disastrously mismanaged by our leaders in Tallahassee. Working Floridians are struggling to stave off evictions and foreclosures, small businesses are fighting to keep their doors open, and some of my colleagues are talking about cutting desperately-needed aid programs because they say we don’t have enough money,” Eskamani said. “Floridians need help, and we need to deliver it to them. And one of the ways we can do that is by eliminating wasteful corporate tax breaks like this one that do nothing but pad the profits of politically influential corporations and instead use the money to deliver real relief to real people.”
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