Food, beverage tax could help eradicate homelessness

The city of Miami Beach will never have a better opportunity to address homelessness than at the March 13 commission meeting, to discuss a 1 percent food and beverage tax on a limited number of Beach eateries.

Street homelessness on the Beach is up 23 percent year-over-year. The efforts now in place simply aren’t enough to change what the Trust predicts will be a growing issue. Support of the 1 percent tax will benefit the area directly.

With the estimated $6.5 million in additional funds generated, housing and services will be enhanced with a focus on dramatically reducing homelessness, and over the long run, ending it.

A dedicated center serving those fleeing domestic violence will be fast tracked. And the $1.8M the Beach spends directly on services will be assumed by the Homeless Trust — allowing the city to put that money back into the general fund for other pressing community needs.

Noted philanthropist Martin Margulies has stepped forward, offering $10 million through the Lotus Endowment Fund to further leverage new food and beverage resources for the benefit of Beach homeless.

The commission would be short-sighted to walk away from such an opportunity as this.

While many sour on another tax, they are missing the facts. The 1 percent tax only applies to the checks of patrons eating at restaurants grossing $400,000 a year and serving alcohol — excluding hotels, mom and pops, and fast food restaurants.

With $22 billion pouring into Miami-Dade County from visitors alone, this isn’t a hardship, it’s a solution.

With real options creating live, touchable, seeable changes for residents and visitors, Miami Beach must join the Trust, and all of Miami-Dade, in ending homelessness. It’s an opportunity we may never have again.

This story was originally published March 13, 2019 at 1:25 AM.