ORLANDO (970 WFLA) -- The fight to bring Amazon to Florida could reheat the battle over using taxpayer incentives to lure businesses to our state.
At least four areas, including Tampa Bay, are making a play for Amazon's new second headquarters, which could bring along as many as 50,000 new jobs.
Enterprise Florida CEO Pete Antonacci is quoted in a Saint Petersblog story as saying that proposals by Tampa Bay, Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville need to be as "incentive-bearing" as possible. That drew a quick response from a Tallahassee-based group involved in the battle over taxpayer funding of tourism and business development during this year's legislative session.
Andres Malave, communications director for the Florida chapter of Americans for Prosperity, says lawmakers and voters don't support taxpayer funded incentives to lure business to Florida. "The citizens of this state do not have an appetite for handing out tax dollars to private companies," Malave said.
Malave says this is an especially inappropriate time to offer incentives to one of the most prosperous companies on the planet, as our state tries to figure out how to pay for Hurricane Irma recovery.
Earlier this year, lawmakers trimmed the budgets of Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida over controversies about how those agencies spent public funds.
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