So I’m actually ok with the foreign flagged cruise ship industry going bankrupt. The majority of them don’t pay taxes in America and don’t employ many Americans (the Americans that do work there should be looked out for though). Bailing them out will benefit mostly the wealthy owners.
Second, these cruise lines are notorious virus spreaders and we should not keep their fares low. They do not support any domestic functions like air travel and shipping.
I say let them go under and if they come back let their fares reflect the risk.
Them not paying taxes sucks but that is the law and they operate in international waters.
But in Miami the 3 main cruise lines have 100,000 U.S. employees plus cruising also supports food purveyors, florists, interior designers, taxi and Uber drivers, bus companies, luggage handlers, airlines, hotels and travel advisors.
Here is a study on what cruising contributes to Florida alone:
That is a huge economic impact that the government collects taxes on as well as state and local taxes collected directly. Now add New York/New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Galveston, Los Angelos, San Diego, Hawaii and you can see the multiplier affect of economic benefit.
I think it might be short sighted to say they do not pay any taxes when they contribute so much economic benefit and secondary tax revenue while being ok with corporate welfare for businesses who get repeatedly bailed out and pay little income taxes for that matter.
After getting cruise ships money to assist in the U.S. operations you can have them put a $25 cruise ship tax on every ticket sold to recoup money. Think about it, in one year 15 million passengers passed through Florida on cruises. A small tax on tickets would raise as much money as you paid out to keep them afloat but you can keep the tax in place for 5 years.