Florida businesses ask Legislature for tax cuts, immunity from COVID-19 lawsuits

A coalition of business interests has released its wish list for Gov. Ron DeSantis and state legislators to consider in 2021, including cutting taxes, revamping alcohol laws and providing broad immunity from lawsuits stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

“The future of Florida is glowing bright, and it is the hope of the … task force that COVID-19 has only served as a bump in the road,” said the 74-page report issued by a group calling itself the Restore Economic Strength through Employment & Tourism Task Force.

The group is co-chaired by executives from Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, the Florida Retail Federation and the National Federation of Independent Business Florida. It also included more than 60 associations that represent employers from the health care, agriculture, hospitality and tourism, manufacturing and retail sectors, among others.

The report recommends that the Legislature exempt “essential businesses” entirely from COVID-19 liability. While legislative leaders indicated support for some sort of liability protections, Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, stopped short of supporting complete immunity.

The report includes a number of tax recommendations, including proposed reductions in the corporate income tax, the communications services tax and taxes on leased or rented commercial property.

The task force wants the Legislature to make permanent an “alcohol to go” policy that was first approved in a COVID-19 executive order and allows restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages with to-go food orders. The policy started as a way to help restaurants suffering because of the pandemic.

Another restaurant friendly recommendation the group supported was a short-term sales tax holiday on food and drinks sold in restaurants. The holiday would be implemented when it is safe to encourage people to go out and eat.

The task force also is pushing the Legislature to provide broad COVID-19 lawsuit protections for businesses, something that DeSantis said in September he supported for “run of the mill businesses.”

Critics said many of the recommendations have been considered by the Legislature for years and are not unique to COVID-19 or the economic damage caused by it.

“This is a complete wish list from the state’s largest corporations and includes proposals that are not even COVID-19 related,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat. “And it’s frustrating and alarming because all of this is grounded in what the largest corporations have wanted for a long time and using the pandemic to try to get these goals accomplished.’'