On January 13, Florida TaxWatch, an independent nonpartisan research institute, held its State of the Taxpayer Dinner highlighting the issues affecting Florida taxpayers during the 2016 Legislative Session. The sold-out event attracted more than 140 taxpayers, business and community leaders, and lawmakers.
At its January 8th meeting, the Government Efficiency Task Force (GETF) approved its interim recommendation report in advance of the 2016 Legislative Session. The interim report includes recommendations that would generate substantial taxpayer savings and improve government efficiency.
With the looming sunset of the sales tax exemption on manufacturing equipment threatening to harm Florida’s economy, Florida TaxWatch testified before the Legislature to extend the tax exemption. The exemption on manufacturing equipment allows manufacturers to reinvest the money they would have given to the state back into their business. This promotes growth in the manufacturing industry and creates high salary jobs.
With an addition of 240,000 jobs in 2015, Florida continues to rise from the Great Recession, according to the December edition of Economic Commentary by Florida TaxWatch. Over the past year, all of Florida’s major industries have seen strong employment gains, with government being the only industry with a reduction in jobs. The unemployment rate has fallen to five percent, matching the national rate and reaching its lowest point since January 2008.
While Florida is known as a tax-friendly state, taxes don’t tell the whole story about how much the government costs its citizens. A better measure to calculate the overall cost of government is to use “own source revenue,” which includes not just taxes, but all other sources of revenue like fees, charges for services, special assessments, impact fees and net lottery revenue.