Eskamani is one of many state legislators around the country working to pass bills meant to stop states from using corporate tax giveaways to steal businesses away from each other
Tallahassee, FL — Representative Anna V. Eskamani has filed legislation that would help end the corrosive practice of states using corporate tax giveaways to steal businesses away from each other in the name of “economic development.”
HB 983, known as the “Interstate Agreement For Best Practices In Economic Development,” would create an anti-poaching agreement that would prohibit states from offering company-specific incentives like tax breaks and cash grants to get a company to relocate an existing facility across state borders.
“Corporate giveaways, which often go to the corporations that make the biggest campaign contributions or employ the most expensive roster of lobbyists, are expensive, inefficient and ineffective even in good times,” Eskamani said. “But they are absolutely destructive and utterly indefensible during the COVID-19 pandemic when working Floridians and small businesses are desperate for help and our state government faces a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall even as demand for social services soars.”
The Interstate Agreement would also create a national board of experts appointed by governors. That board would be charged with finding more ways to help state and local government escape from the current “prisoner’s dilemma” of economic development and implementing a level playing field for all employers, big and small.
“Ending this ‘beggar-thy-neighbor’ approach to economic development will not only help us better respond to the healthcare and economic crisis we face right now, but it will also establish a fairer and more stable economy for the future,” Eskamani said.
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