As FL's economy crashes, DeSantis is going ahead with $543 million in tax refunds for corporations [View all]

[Nevilledog]

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-florida-corporate-tax-refunds-20200325-yidx2mcbbvdx7orvjt65g3kmym-story.html

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to go ahead with more than a half-billion dollars in tax refunds for the state’s largest corporations — even as the state economy crashes amid the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature committed to the corporate tax refunds — which will total $543 million — two years ago, long before lawmakers had any idea how big they would be. The state hasn’t paid them out yet and doesn’t have to until May 1.

But Florida is suddenly bracing for a potentially unprecedented drop in sales tax collections as commercial activity shuts down, along with surging demand for state government services as workers across the state lose their jobs en masse. So some activists want DeSantis to use his emergency power as governor to stop the refunds.

“This is $540 million that we will definitely need,” said Sadaf Knight, the CEO of the Florida Policy Institute, an Orlando-based think tank that advocates for higher corporate taxes and lower taxes for low-income Floridians. “Corporations have been getting a break for many, many years. It’s really families and individual Floridians who really need the break now.”

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