Southwest Region Chair Todd Gates Says Business Rent Tax Makes Florida Less Competitive

“Anything we do to handcuff or make it more difficult for businesses to flourish and hire new people and expand their business is a bad thing, so it’s critically important that we eliminate that tax or at least wind it backwards as quickly as possible,” said TODD GATES, the Southwest Florida Chair of the Florida Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. “We’re the only state in the entire country that has this tax, so from a competitive perspective it’s really important that…the tax gets eliminated.”

In this edition of the Florida Chamber’s series of interview with business leaders, Gates, the founder and Chairman of GATES, a full-service construction management general contracting and design build firm with offices in Florida, North Carolina and the Republic of Panama, discusses why the issue of the state’s business rent tax must be resolved, not just for the sake of Florida’s business community, but for the sake of all Floridians.

“Anything that make us uncompetitive as a state is a bad thing, and anything that makes us more competitive is a good thing,” he said. “The more successful we are as business people, the more successful the communities are and the more successful everybody that’s involved will be. A rising tide truly rises all vessels.”