TIA urges congress to cover hurricane Irma relief bill

The Tire Industry Association and members of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Coalition will lobby Congress to apply WOTC to natural disasters that will cover powerful hurricanes like Harvey and Irma.

TIA has written to members of Congress urging them to reject restrictions to WOTC’s use during disasters that have occurred in recent years, and return to the Hurricane Katrina formula.

Currently, WOTC does not include disaster victims as a target group. Disasters of the current magnitude will shut down thousands of firms, many of them permanently, leaving workers without places of employment. Allowing employers to claim WOTC for disaster victims they employ, whose principal place of abode was in the disaster area when it struck. Assisting those who have lost jobs and face uncertainty as to whether they can be employed again by their former employer is essential. People are struggling with problems of housing, transportation, and family, and critically need an income, which the WOTC incentive has been proven to provide cost-effectively. TIA strongly recommends that Congress follow the Katrina model and establish a new target group designating Hurricane Harvey victims as WOTC-eligible “disaster employees,” defined as individuals whose principal place of abode was in the disaster area on the date of the disaster declaration.