Incentives are one of many factors in business decisions to expand or relocate, but most are awarded to existing Florida businesses that have over 1,000 employees. Projects that received incentive payments and claimed tax credits in Fiscal Years 2012-13 through 2014-15 have received $597.4 million in cumulative payments and tax credits; these projects received $156.2 million within the review period. All of these projects have job creation requirements and many have capital investment goals. However, performance on these measures varies by incentive program. During the review period, 134 incentives were terminated due to lack of performance.

The Enterprise Zone Program underperformed on economic and social indicators and will be completely phased out by 2018. Most Innovation Incentive recipients have been unable to achieve job goals and several left the state prior to contract completion. New Markets Development Program projects are primarily located in two counties, with most capital invested in four industries; inadequate reporting requirements hamper assessment of program impact.

The Legislature may wish to consider phasing out the Innovation Incentive Program. If the Legislature funds additional New Markets tax credits, it could direct the Department of Economic Opportunity to use scoring criteria to allocate them. Moreover, the department should enhance oversight of the New Markets Program and improve the timeliness of the incentive claims and payment processes.