PRESS RELEASE May 8, 2000

Tallahassee, FL – The average Florida household will finally be done paying their taxes tomorrow, May 9th, Florida TaxWatch announced today.

This year’s Taxpayer Independence Day comes two days earlier than it did in 1999 because this year Floridian’s personal income will grow faster than the taxes they paid. This reverses a trend of recent years that has seen Taxpayer Independence Day come later and later.

“Taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief this year because they can keep more of their hard-earned money,” said Florida TaxWatch President Dominic M. Calabro. “Florida TaxWatch is hopeful this trend will continue as the economy continues to be strong and state and federal officials remain vigilant about taxation issues.”

Taxpayer Independence Day is a symbolic date that assumes that every dollar earned since January 1 goes to pay federal, state and local taxes. In an average eight-hour day, Floridians work 2 hours and 50 minutes to pay their taxes. This is a worker’s single largest expense. By contrast, housing takes one hour and 19 minutes and food takes 44 minutes.

Florida TaxWatch projects that the average Florida family’s effective buying power will increase this year thanks to continued low inflation. The 2000 increase is 2.6 %, the largest in the last ten years. This helps continue an eight-year trend that shows the average Florida paycheck going a little further.

Among the study’s findings:

Floridians must work 129 out of 366 days to pay their tax bills. The per capita tax bill for each Floridian has increased $3,896 in the last 10 years. Total per capita taxation is expected to rise 3.87% in FY 2000.

While governments have generally avoided tax hikes in recent years, a strong economy has led to federal tax collections growing faster than income, causing Taxpayer Independence Day to come later and later during the 1990s. Tax growth at all levels of government has slowed in the 1990s, compared to the decade of the 1980s.

“Floridians have gotten the upper hand in the struggle between taxation and income growth,” Calabro said. “This year we can mark our calendars and know that tomorrow’s income is ours. We need to continue learning about how the government spends our tax dollars in order to ensure that we are getting the maximum benefits from our hard-earned money.”