Building A Florida HowFor Communities, All: Essential Services And Workers Can Thrive If Corporations Pay What They Owe May 2021 THE PEOPLE’S BUDGET FLORIDA IS A COALITION OF UNIONS, COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS, ELECTED OFFICIALS, AND POLICY EXPERTS FIGHTING FOR A STATE THAT WORKS FOR ALL OF US, NOT JUST CORPORATIONS, THE COALITION INCLUDES FLORIDA FOR ALL, FLORIDA RISING, SEIU, SEIU1199, SEIU-FPSU, THE FLORIDA IMMIGRANT COALITION, THE FLORIDA POLICY INSTITUTE AND OTHERS. Building A Florida For All | 2 Florida is facing unprecedented challenges. The coronavirus has changed life as we know it and brought untold tragedy and hardship to countless families--killing more than 33,000 Floridians as of April 2021 and causing one-third of Floridians to lose wages or their job entirely. Black, Latino, Asian, Native and immigrant communities have been hit hardest by this pandemic—becoming ill, dying and losing jobs at higher rates than white and non-immigrant Americans — in large part because they are disproportionately putting their lives on the line to do the essential, and frequently underpaid, work our society relies on. The difficulties of 2020 have shown Floridians just how much we depend on each other and how important the people providing essential services are for our local communities, whether it’s for day-to-day needs like groceries or child care, for cleaning and sanitizing the places where we work or go for necessities, maintaining our schools and colleges, staffing libraries, and for help with critical benefits like unemployment or lifesaving services like healthcare. At the same time, the pandemic has demonstrated the deep cracks and divides that have long existed in our system; and it has brought into focus predictable results of past and present choices. Corporations--like Disney and Publix--and the wealthy have demanded tax cuts for decades, while at the same time taking advantage of loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying their fair share. As a result, 99% of companies in Florida pay no corporate taxes, including many that make over $1 billion in profits a year.1 Decades of state leadership supporting corporations have resulted in cuts to services, thinning of critical staff, delayed planning for our communities’ future and hobbling the capacity for our governments to respond to crises like the pandemic. Corporate tax cuts and bailouts have also shifted the burden of supporting our cities, counties and state to working people over the last few decades--even as many of these same corporations lowered working peoples’ wages and benefits, outsourced work and starved our communities of the resources we need. Building A Florida For All | 3 99% OF COMPANIES IN FLORIDA PAY NO CORPORATE TAXES, INCLUDING MANY THAT MAKE OVER $1 BILLION IN PROFITS A YEAR. In fact, Florida is one of the hardest places for working people to support a family because our elected leaders have created one of the most unfair state and local tax structures in the country. Historic and current injustices resulting in huge disparities in income and wealth across race and ethnicity are further exacerbated by this unfair tax structure.2 To maintain their power, the rich and powerful hide these truths and then turn around and use race to divide us by fear of one another, even though most of us want and need the same things. It is time to demand that our elected officials invest in our communities and not impose austerity measures. We need to stand up to corporations and demand that our elected leaders in Florida reverse and end the bad tax policies that have allowed corporations to operate without paying their fair share in taxes. To achieve this, our elected leaders need to stand up for our communities and Protect Us, Respect Us and Pay Us, instead of caving into corporate lobbyists. 1. Floridians Want Investments in our Communities No matter where we come from or the color of our skin, most of us want the same things—to be able to make a decent living, give our kids a good start in life and live in a safe community with good neighbors. That means we want a government that invests in our communities rather than subsidizing corporations. The People’s Budget Florida is a project that has brought together community organizations, labor unions, small business, policy organizations, and newly elected state representatives, to give ordinary Floridians the opportunity to voice what they want from their state budget. During the first month of the legislative session more than 10,400 Floridians from across the state and representing the breadth of the political spectrum responded. Overwhelmingly, respondents expressed a desire for investment in critical public services, with 83% expressing a desire for the state to increase or maintain investment.3 • Accessible Health Care: 67% of respondents want the state to increase investment in health care. • Affordable housing: 59% of survey respondents want the state to increase investment in affordable housing. • Public Transportation: 53% of survey respondents want the state to increase investment in public transportation. Building A Florida For All | 4 • Public Education: 74% of survey respondents want the state to increase investment in education to support the 2.5 million students dependent on state education funding. • Public Higher Education (community colleges, universities and vocational schools): 60% of respondents want the state to increase investment in our public higher education institutions. • Climate Change: 52% of survey respondents want the state to increase investment to offset the impact of climate change. 2. Profiting at the Expense of Workers and Communities Florida clearly has the resources needed to build the strong, equitable public services our communities need and deserve. Florida is the fourth wealthiest state in the nation based on GDP.4 Over the past decade Florida’s economy has grown by nearly 50%.5 The state has 2.7 million business establishments;6 and it is home to twenty-three Fortune 500 companies that together generated $26 billion in annual earnings before taxes according to their most recent annual filings.7 Together, the 23 CEOs of these companies collectively took home over $400 million in compensation in 2019 (most recent data).8 Corporate Profiteering Both the profits and the CEO earnings come at the expense of the workers who in most cases earn only a tiny fraction of what these CEO’s take home.9 Here are some examples of Fortune 500 companies headquartered or with a significant presence in the state:10 2020 Calendar Year profits CEO 2020 compensation CEO: median worker Company (during pandemic) ($ millions) pay ratio ($millions) NexEra (Florida Power & Light) $2,900 $23.7 N/A Comcast (Universal) $10,500 $32.7 461:1 Walmart $13,510 $22.6 983:1 HCA (for-profit hospitals) $3,800 $30.4 478:1 Publix $3,700 $2.6* 84:1 GEO Group (private prison) $113 $2.0 159:1 *2018 compensation (most recent) Building A Florida For All | 5 PANDEMIC PROFITEERS These large corporations have continued to profit throughout the pandemic on the backs of essential workers, showing little regard for their workers’ lives. • Publix: While Publix’s sales increased by $4.6 billion during the pandemic,11 it was among the last grocery store chains in Florida to offer its workers protective gear and did not offer them any hazard pay.12 • Walmart: While the Walton family which owns the majority of Walmart stock13 increased its wealth by $30 billion14 during a year of pandemic, the company delayed implementing CDC guidelines around social distancing and PPE.15 • GEO Group: One of the largest private prison systems in the U.S., the company’s business strategy to maximize profits is based on promoting high incarceration rates and occupancy guarantees on the public’s dime.16 Already subject to several government audits, during the pandemic, GEO has shown little concern for inmate and staff safety. In just the first few months of the pandemic in Florida alone, one of Geo’s Florida facilities was the site of all five of the first inmates to succumb to COVID, and in another of its Florida facilities, thirty-nine staff members had been infected, more than in any other prison.17 Billionaire Bonanza Florida is home to sixty billionaires with a combined wealth of $235 billion as of April 2021.18 While the rest of us have struggled to keep afloat during the pandemic, the combined wealth of these sixty billionaires increased by $46 billion during a year of the pandemic.19 Many of these billionaires have made their fortunes elsewhere, while residing in Florida where they can avoid income taxes and hoard their wealth. Here are some examples of pandemic profiteering and wealth: • Thomas Peterffy: With a net worth of $24.7 billion, Peterffy is the richest person in Florida. Since the onset of the pandemic, his wealth has increased by 73%,20 that’s an increase of more than $1 million dollars per hour. • Carol Jenkins Barnett: Heir to Publix supermarkets,21 net worth $2.5 billion.22 • Micky Arison: Carnival Cruise chairman of the board and previous CEO of Carnival Cruise, net worth increased by $1.7 billion to $6.8 billion during the pandemic23 while the company laid off thousands of workers.24 • Barry Sternlicht: Chairman and CEO of private equity firm Starwood Capital Group,25 increased his wealth by 23% during the pandemic to $3.7 billion,26 while his company filed at least one eviction notice at 60% of its affordable housing Florida properties.27 Building A Florida For All | 6 $45 BILLION = + + RENT RELIEF MORTGAGE RELIEF AFFORDABLE HOUSING The $45 billion in pandemic wealth, if available for public investment, could, for example, greatly alleviate the housing crisis in our state.