Florida Democrats have questioned the prudence of a $543 million scheduled refund for large corporations over concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state’s finances.
“Florida is going ahead with gratuitous corporate refunds to the top sliver of corporations even as the rest of our businesses, especially small business, and workers need us more every day. It was unfair and unwise before the crisis. It's indefensible now,” Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez (D) said in a March 25 tweet.
In an April 1 tweet, Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D) said that proceeding with the refunds during a pandemic is “just unconscionable.”
“Refunding $543 million to the top 1 percent of Florida corporations was a reckless spending decision before the pandemic,” Smith said.
The refunds were created by legislation that was enacted in 2018 in response to changes under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That legislation requires that any collections over adjusted forecast collections during fiscal 2018 are refunded to the corporations by May 1, 2020.
The state estimates that $543 million will be refunded to businesses by May 1 under the provision.
In a statement, Florida Policy Institute CEO Sadaf Knight said, "A decade of cuts to affordable health care, unemployment assistance, and other crucial programs and services has left our state vulnerable.”
Rather than providing the corporate refunds, Knight said, “these dollars should instead go to preserving our state's safety net and protecting those residents who will be disproportionately impacted by this public health crisis and the coming recession."
Despite the concerns, Republican lawmakers have said they do not support delaying the refunds.
In a statement, Florida Senate President Bill Galvano (R) said: “While the rest of the country is working to reduce burdens on businesses as they grapple with the impacts of coronavirus on their workforces and their revenues, I do not support Florida creating an unanticipated tax burden by withholding refunds corporations have planned on and built into their business plans for the year.”