Key HUF 2022 Legislative Priority

Create a state-based Working Floridians Tax Rebate (WFTR).

In the tax year 2015, approximately two million tax filers in Florida received $5.2 billion worth of tax credits through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). 30 states and the District of Columbia have already created or enacted a state-based EITC program, including Washington, a state without an income tax like Florida.

Florida’s tax system is upside down, meaning that those with the lowest incomes are asked to pay the highest share of their income on state and local taxes. Targeted tax rebates and credits to those with the lowest income can help alleviate this.

State EITCs are better targeted to people with low income than blanket tax exemptions, so they help to reduce the disproportionate impact of sales and excise taxes. According to data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a state EITC at 30 percent of the federal credit would reduce the share of income that Floridians in the lowest income quintile pay towards taxes from 12.7 percent to 9.3 percent, a 26 percent decrease. (https://www.floridapolicy.org/posts/earned-income-tax-credit-crucial-for-working-families)

Support two-generational approach to provide multi-generational support for families.

HUF’s innovative 2Gen model provides a framework of tools, resources, and integrated services that build family well-being and maximizes the potential that lies within each child and the adults in their lives so that families and communities thrive.

We seek to develop more effective policies for families with young children in poverty by aligning targeted social services that support child development with workforce development services to increase family economic self-sufficiency.

Recommendations:

• Support career training, skill-building, and apprenticeship programs that support low-income families in developing necessary skills to attain high-wage jobs.
• Expand accessibility of housing for low-income working families with young children.
• Take into account the impact of Florida’s new minimum wage law on social service program participants by continuing to model “fiscal cliffs” accounting for minimum wage increases in accordance with the constitutionally mandated timeline.

Raise Florida’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefit level.

Florida has not increased the benefit in more than 25 years, now set at less than one-fifth of the federal poverty line.

Support small businesses by partnering with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).

More than 37,000 businesses were denied credit by Florida’s Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program in April 2020. CDFIs are trusted by small businesses in underserved communities and can help mitigate the current economic challenges.

Recommendation:

• Support the strengthening of state efforts to support small businesses, including through support of CDFIs, to help build the capacity of these community-based lenders to ensure that small businesses and nonprofit organizations can maintain payroll and operations.