Have you ever wondered how Florida’s taxes stack up against the taxes in other states? If so, this report is for you. The annual Florida TaxWatch How Florida Compares: Taxes report ranks Florida’s state and local taxes against those levied around the nation.
Florida’s state government agencies have requested $77.835 billion in funding from the Legislature for FY2016-17, which is $1.2 billion (1.6 percent) more than these agencies are expected to spend in the current year. The total request is made up of $29.481 billion in general revenue (GR) and $48.354 billion in trust funds. The GR request is an increase of $854.5 million (3.0 percent). The latest revenue estimates forecast $31.653 billion in GR will be available for FY2016-17 meaning that the agency requests would leave GR reserves of $2 billion.
Introduction Many in the Florida Legislature have been rightly criticizing local governments for rapidly increasing property taxes and budgets. The property tax debate and the
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, April 14, 2026 CONTACT: Christina Johnson Tallahassee, Fla. – Florida TaxWatch announced today that Friday, April 17 is Florida Taxpayer Independence Day (TID) 2026. This
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 28, 2025 CONTACT: Christina Johnson Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch released a report Government Efficiency Should Not Be Something We Only Do Every
Where and how well our school districts spend our education dollars can have a profound impact on student academic achievement and success. Historically, education makes up about one-fourth of Florida’s total budget. Florida TaxWatch believes that shifting education spending away from administrative and other expenses and toward classroom/instructional expenses is beneficial.
January 2022 marked the 12th Annual Human Trafficking Awareness Month. A recognized memorial since 2010, the designation seeks to raise human trafficking awareness and educate the public about the crime’s heinous impact on millions of people across the world. Given the criminal enterprise nature of human trafficking, there is also an inherent economic cost to communities and the state of Florida when exploitation prevents victims from leading dignified, generative lives. What are the costs and implications of human trafficking in Florida?
The 2020 Census is finally over, capping off a historic effort to accurately count every person in the United States during a pandemic. A few interesting stories emerge from the latest enumeration of the nation, such as the growing population shift to the South and New York losing a congressional House seat by only 89 people. Although Florida was one of the so-called “winners” in the current census because it secured an additional seat in Congress, the result was not as spectacular as expected.
Florida TaxWatch is constantly looking to spread the word about our research, recommendations, and programs, all in pursuit of serving each and every taxpayer in Florida. Below is just a selection of where we’ve popped up in the last few weeks!
Today, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) announced the appointment of Tony Carvajal as Executive Vice President. Mr. Carvajal succeeds Robert Weissert who is moving to Washington, D.C. to pursue the next chapter of his career after 14 great years with the taxpayer research institute. Along with Mr. Carvajal, TaxWatch also welcomes Carolyn Gosselin as Chief Growth and Strategy Officer, Tanya Bechtold as Director of Investor Relations, and Kat Dunn as Digital Content Manager. Florida TaxWatch is also announcing the promotions of Kurt Wenner and Bob Nave to Senior Vice Presidents of Research and Chris Barry to Vice President of Communications.
For over 45 years, donor support has made Florida TaxWatch the state’s leading independent voice for taxpayer accountability. There are many ways to support our mission.
