Businesses could get a tax break for hiring former felons – that’s if a bill filed by Miami Democratic Senator Dwight Bullard gets approved this session. The bill would give companies hiring a convicted felon a $1,000 tax credit. The credit applies to the corporate income tax, which not all businesses have to pay, but Bullard says it’s a way for the program to get a solid foot in the door.
Bullard says “You know it’s gotten to a point and place where people are handicapping certain individuals and mislabeling them because of one-time incidents because you know ‘I got into an altercation outside a bar and now I have an assault charge on my record...’”
Bullard calls the rate of unemployment for people with a criminal history “atrocious.” He says helping them find jobs can lower the likelihood they’ll reoffend.
Photo Credit: IMG_5078 by Patrick Denker licensed under CC BY 2.0
