Who’ll bail out depleted unemployment fund? You, if you shop online
lion since the start of the pandemic.
And businesses, particularly the state’s largest corporations, would see a big benefit under the proposal: Their unemployment insurance rates, which usually fills the unemployment trust fund, would not go up.
Companies currently pay a minimum of $7 per employee per year into the fund, one of the lowest rates in the nation. That’s scheduled to go up to $87 next year, however, under a sliding scale that state lawmakers years ago tied to the unemployment rate.
Under the plan released by House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, and Senate President
Water managers are going to build a $14 million seepage wall to protect 119 properties in the west Miami-Dade community known as Las Palmas where flooding is likely to increase as more water starts flowing through Everglades National Park as a result of restoration projects like the Tamiami Trail bridges.
But at the same time, they are stepping up efforts to coax property owners out of what was long known as the 8.5 Square Mile Area, possibly with the help of a MiamiDade County land preservation program. The District has sent letters to residents to gauge interest in a willing seller program.
On Thursday, the South Florida Water Management District unanimously approved a $14 million contract to build a partially underground barrier intended to stop water from seeping from Everglades National Park into the community.
But the 2.3 mile seepage wall, scheduled to be completed in a year, is a shortterm solution to mitigate flooding in an area that will continue to suffer with high water that will come not only from north of Tamiami Trail and through the national park, but also from the other
Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, businesses would keep paying that $7 per employee per year for the next five years, or until the trust fund returns to prepandemic levels.
“This fiscally responsible legislation will cut taxes for our business owners, ensure that Florida’s small businesses and retailers with a physical presence in our state are competitive, and keep us the most business-friendly state in the nation,” Sprowls said in a statement.
BUSINESSES LOVE THE IDEA
The idea was also quickly championed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, whose members include some of the state’s largest corporations.
“Today’s welcome announcement benefits Florida’s main street businesses by leveling the playing field on sales tax collections, while at the same time providing much needed relief from a looming $713 million tax increase on employers,” Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson said in a statement.
In effect, the burden of replenishing the fund would fall to Floridians who buy things online, rather than on the state’s largest corporations, said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando. She noted that the idea would be more beneficial to larger companies with more employees.
“The small business community really isn’t the one getting the bailout here — it’s the biggest of companies who are already paying so little,” Eskamani said. “And it’s the public subsidizing an unemployment system that was designed by the Republican majority and big businesses to fail.”
The proposal will be amended to Senate Bill 50 and House Bill 15 and could be voted on as soon as next week.
PANDEMIC DEPLETES THE TRUST FUND
At the start of the pandemic, the trust fund was about $4 billion. By January, it was down to $777 million. One of the reasons why the trust fund hasn’t been completely drained is because the state’s benefits are so pitiful. At just $275 per week, they’re some of the stingiest in the nation.
During the Great Recession, the trust fund drained completely. Rather than require companies to pay more, state lawmakers borrowed money from the federal government, an option still available to them.
The nation’s unemployment system is referred to as “unemployment insurance” because it was initially created for, and historically funded by, businesses.
Created in 1935, the nation’s system is intended to prevent the “death spiral” caused by widespread unemployment: People who are out of work have no money to spend. When they have no money to spend, businesses earn less revenue, causing them to lay people off, accelerating the cycle by further reducing the number of dollars in circulation.
Getting money into the hands of out-of-work Americans is as much an insurance policy for businesses as for employees. The first unemployment systems were voluntary and created by businesses, not the government, in the 1920s and ’30s.