Death and taxes might be certain, but businesses say they never expected the icy silence that greeted them during years spent seeking property tax exemptions from Miami.
A class action lawsuit by 67 businesses suggests they heard nothing—neither approvals nor denials—on applications for ad valorem tax exemptions under a city enterprise zone program promising discretionary tax incentives to investors in blighted neighborhoods. It claims the companies created jobs, bolstered real estate values and triggered economic development in now-thriving communities in Midtown, Brickell, Wynwood and the Design District after a 2001 referendum, but Miami reneged on its side of the deal.
