FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, December 15, 2025 CONTACT: Christina Johnson Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) released the 2025 How Florida Counties Compare report, which examines Florida’s 67 counties and […]
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.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the opportunity- and the need- to make telehealth as accessible as practicable. Telehealth helps reach audiences that may otherwise be unable to access care and provides the opportunity to improve patient care, treatment, education, and services, and ultimately bend the cost curve.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) released 2021 How Florida Compares: Taxes, which includes an analysis of Florida’s state and local tax rates, tax collections, and other government revenues and compares the data to the 49 other states and the national average. The report is part of the taxpayer research institute’s larger How Florida Compares series, providing neutral, nonpartisan information intended to help Floridians better understand their state.
Have you ever wondered how Florida’s taxes stack up against the taxes in other states? If so, this report is for you.
There has been an ideological debate regarding economic development incentives brewing in the Legislature for several years. The Qualified Target Industry (QTI) Tax Refund Program is a performance-based program that refunds some of the taxes a business has already paid, but only after it is verified that the contracted requirements have been met, including the promised increase in high-wage jobs.
The Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund Program is a performance-based incentive program, that incentivizes the creation of high-quality, high-wage jobs – the higher the wage, the larger the refund – in sought-after targeted industries and offers a bonus for new jobs in rural areas of the state, incentivizing businesses to locate in economically disadvantaged counties.
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.
Since 2014, Florida TaxWatch has researched and supported the expansion of telehealth (see Critical Connections to Care and Telehealth in Florida: Where We Are and What is Next) and our work has consistently found that telemedicine provides a way for Florida to increase self-sufficiency, contain costs, and improve health care access and outcomes.
My name is Dominic M. Calabro, and I am President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, taxpayer research institute and government watchdog which, for over 40 years, has worked hard to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of Florida government and promote a fair and equitable system of taxation.
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