Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis should take executive action to offer tax credits to businesses that offer their employees paid sick leave, Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, and Sen. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, said in a letter to the governor. The senators said many businesses are being hit hard economically by the COVID-19 pandemic and many will struggle to offer their employees paid sick leave.
Offering tax credits would address both the state's public health crisis and the economic fallout for businesses, the senators said.
The spread of COVID-19 may disproportionately affect Florida's economy, which is largely tourism-based. The state Legislature acknowledged the state's vulnerability when it passed a vastly streamlined tax cut package on March 13. The streamlined tax package, which offered sales tax holidays, cost $47.4 million in nonrecurring revenue. The package had originally proposed cuts to state communications services taxes and recommended commercial rent taxes and tax breaks for car rental companies, and at its most expensive it would have cost the state $233 million.
--Editing by Vincent Sherry.
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