Dear Fellow Taxpayer, With more than 8,400 miles of coastline and a flat, low-lying coastal topography, Florida is especially vulnerable to the effects of sea […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 4, 2025 CONTACT: Christina Johnson TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) released The Taxpayers’ Guide to Florida’s FY2025-26 State Budget, providing an overview
Florida TaxWatch’s 2025 Legislative Session Wrap-up Report provides a comprehensive analysis of Florida’s extended legislative session that concluded June 16 with a $115.1 billion budget and $2.0 billion tax package. The Governor signed the budget on June 30 and issued $376 million in line-item vetoes, resulting in a net budget of $114.8 billion while maintaining strong fiscal reserves of $12.6 billion.
Tallahassee, Fla – Today, Florida TaxWatch released its 2024 UPDATE: Are Floridians Ready to Go Back to School? Not Without More Teachers, an analysis of
The 2023 Debt Report for Florida highlights the state’s strong financial standing, with a debt ratio below the 6% legislative target for the tenth consecutive year. Florida’s debt and debt service have decreased, while General Revenue collections increased by $3.3 billion. Rating agencies affirmed AAA ratings and a stable financial outlook. The report details Florida’s debt management strategies, including limiting debt accumulation and maintaining high reserves, contributing to a strong debt capacity and reduced future costs. Local government debt, however, remains comparatively high. The state’s prudent financial practices are underscored, benefiting taxpayers and indicating a healthy fiscal future.
Tuesday, April 18, Florida TaxWatch joins the taxpayers in our state in celebrating Florida Taxpayer Independence Day 2023. On that day, Floridians are finally earning money for themselves–not for the tax collector. This symbolic date assumes that every dollar earned since January 1 goes to pay federal, state, and local tax obligations. This measure of tax burden is based on the relative size of all taxes paid in Florida to our state’s total personal income. In 2023, on average, it takes Florida 107 out of 365 days to pay its taxes, or three and a half months. Floridians are experiencing tax collections that are growing faster than the personal income to pay for them, so it will take taxpayers four more days to achieve tax independence than it did last year, when the date was April 10. After Taxpayer Independence Day came earlier in six straight years, this is the second consecutive year the date falls later on the calendar. Independence is coming nine days later this year than in 2020, when the pandemic led to reduced tax collections.
The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met on August 16, 2022, to develop the state’s new forecast for general revenue (GR) collections. After the close of FY2021-22, which wildly exceed revenue expectations, the REC increased the estimates for FY2022-23 and 2023-24 by a total of $5.3 billion.
“Floridians are required by law to pay online sales taxes, but most are unaware; and even if they know about it, the process is remarkably tedious. Enacting legislation to shift the burden to out-of-state retailers would protect these hard-working men and women, who are already dedicated taxpayers, while also providing for a more efficient process that puts over $1.3 billion back in local and state government coffers every year. Florida TaxWatch is grateful to Rep. Clemons for supporting this issue – which has been an organizational priority for almost two decades – and working tirelessly to see House Bill 15 through.”
Florida TaxWatch supports the concept of a centralized management system for the fleet of state[1]owned motor vehicles, maintenance facilities, and fuel depots.
Telemedicine increases access to quality care and can be used as an innovative tool to reduce costly medical interventions such as emergency room utilization and length of hospital stay.
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