Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez celebrated his city’s economic growth and emphasis on innovation on “Mornings with Maria,” Thursday, predicting Miami could “overtake” Silicon Valley in the near future. Suarez discussed the popularity of cryptocurrency in Miami and the role innovation has played in bringing people and assets into South Florida.
FRANCIS SUAREZ: We’ve kept it simple. We’ve lowered taxes, we’ve kept people safe, and we’re leaning into innovation, which is what excites people about the future of any city. Because of that, we’ve seen over $2 trillion migrate to Miami in assets under managed company. I think it’s $40 billion in income. It’s a net outflow of $20 billion from New York and $40 billion into Florida. And a lot of that into Miami. And we’ve seen a 400% increase in our venture capital pipeline in just one year. And if we continue to grow at that rate, and it’s a zero-sum game between us and Silicon Valley, we could overtake Silicon Valley in a few years. So we’re focusing on and continuing to push forward. Today, we’re announcing and hopefully approving the lowest tax rate in the history of our city. So we’re lowering what’s called our millage rate, which is the only tax that we charge. And it’s going to be down to the lowest rate in recorded history. We hope to finish the year with the lowest homicides in recorded history. So when you keep people safe, and you put more money back into their pocket, you let them make decisions. You usually have a good outcome.