The upscale shopping experience in the Design District neighborhood on July 15, 2022, in Miami. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Miami mainly remained open as the rest of the U.S. was shutting down, leading to thousands of people relocating to the area.
Florida has no personal income tax, low corporate taxes and far lower property taxes than Chicago or Cook County, a difference made starker by Donald Trump’s 2017 federal tax law that capped deductions for state and local tax payments. For Griffin, who spent a fortune defeating a proposed Illinois tax increase on the rich, the tax differential no doubt matters.
We give Miami a lot more credit than that. People yearning for warm weather, work-life balance and beautiful vistas can indeed find them in Miami. Along with those lower taxes. Everyone knows about Miami and its hurricanes, and this year’s Atlantic season is just getting underway. Storm surges from a direct hit could overwhelm sea walls and put billions of dollars of Miami real estate under water.
But the investment in adaptation is overshadowed by the investment in new, vulnerable real estate. To a disturbing extent, much of Miami is a house of straw, and everyone knows what happens when the big, bad wolf comes to the door.