The 2020 Florida Legislature enacted two more sales tax holidays, a three-day “back-to-school” and a seven-day disaster preparedness tax holiday.  Although the pending threat from the COVID-19 virus lead to the Legislature eliminating nearly all the tax cuts they were considering, the popularity of sales tax holidays was affirmed once again. From May 29-June 4, items to help Floridians prepare for hurricane season, such as flashlights, portable two-way or weatherband radios, waterproof sheeting, generators, and tie-down kits will be exempt from sales sax.  This will save Floridians an estimated $5.6 million.

In the most recent legislative session VISIT FLORIDA’s future was uncertain. SB 362 extended its life for three more years and set its funding at $50 million. The extension that VISIT FLORIDA received is vital to Florida’s tourism industry and comes when we need it most due to the COVID-19 impacts on the state’s economy. Other states that have reduced or eliminated their tourism marketing efforts have experienced immediate and long-term negative economic impacts. Florida TaxWatch research has shown that continuous, targeted investment into Florida’s tourism industry is critical to our state’s success.

Every year, right around the usual April 15 deadline to pay your federal taxes, Florida TaxWatch releases our Taxpayer Independence Day report. This marks the symbolic date that Floridians are finally earning money for themselves–not for the government. This 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 and serves as a gauge for how fast government is growing versus our ability to pay for it. 

In two dashboards, we explored the distribution of $150 billion in federal aid under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to the different states and to qualifying local governments. Each state is allocated an amount proportional to its population size with at least $1.25 billion guaranteed regardless of population share. In addition, local governments with populations over 500,000 can also claim up to 45% of the amount allocated for their population, while the other 55% is retained by the state to serve that same population. Also, a second dashboard shows the distribution among Florida’s qualifying local governments.

This Florida TaxWatch Briefing analyzes the significance of public employment in Florida by breaking down the ten largest employers per county (by number of employees) based on whether they are public or private entities. Public entities fall under four levels: federal, state, county, and municipal governments. Of the 670 entities statewide, 280 are public and 390 are private. 

BRIDG was established as a not-for-profit, public-private partnership with support from state and local governments and leading manufacturing industry companies. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, state funding for BRIDG was withheld. BRIDG has the potential to generate thousands of high-skill, high-wage jobs, with billions of dollars in total earnings and hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local tax revenues. BRIDG has the potential to establish Central Florida as a major hub, if not THE major hub, for information technology research, innovation, and manufacturing in the world. Florida TaxWatch presents this report in hope that the Governor and Legislature will continue its investment in BRIDG for fiscal year 2020-21 and beyond. 

A medida que el impacto del coronavirus, o COVID-19, continúa extendiéndose a través de nuestro estado y nuestra nación, también lo hace la incertidumbre que trae a cada comunidad que toca. Empresas están cerrando, todo está cancelado, el desempleo está aumentando a un ritmo récord y el Congreso está aprobando el proyecto de ley de ayuda por desastre más grande en la historia de nuestro país, destinando billones de dólares para ayudar a combatir los impactos económicos de esta pandemia.

Sin duda, estamos viviendo tiempos inciertos sin precedentes, pero durante las crisis es que vemos lo mejor de nuestros compañeros residentes de Florida. En estos últimos días y semanas, muchos han buscado formas de ayudar, y tenemos una simple sugerencia: lea su periódico y complete el Censo 2020.

As the impact of the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, continues to spread across our state and nation, so too does the uncertainty it brings to every community it touches. Businesses are shuttering. Everything is canceled. Unemployment is climbing at a record pace. And Congress on Friday passed the largest disaster relief bill in our nation’s history, directing trillions of dollars to help beat back the economic impacts of this pandemic. President Trump signed the bill into law late Friday afternoon.
We are undoubtedly living in unprecedented and uncertain times, but it is during crises that we see the very best in our fellow Floridians. Over these past days and weeks, many have looked for ways to help and we have a simple suggestion — read your newspaper and complete the 2020 Census.

Florida TaxWatch has undertaken an independent review to assess the impacts of certain key changes proposed by MFAR that would have a far-reaching and dramatic impact on Florida’s Medicaid program, Florida’s safety-net providers, the 3.8 million Medicaid-eligible Floridians, and Florida taxpayers. Florida TaxWatch is pleased to present this summary report and its recommendations, and we look forward to a continued discussion with Florida lawmakers and policymakers.

The bills passed by the 2020 Legislature included many recommended or supported by Florida TaxWatch research. The following Legislative Wrap-Up discusses all these bills and more. It shows what passed and what did not—both issues supported by Florida TaxWatch research and other important bills we monitored all session long to keep our members and the public informed on our Legislative Update webpage.

The 2020 tax package (HB 7097) was amended many times as it moved through the process. At first, it grew topping $230 million in tax savings at one point. Then, citing a need to keep more money in reserves for COVID-19 response, it started getting smaller. The following is a description of all the provisions that were in the many versions of HB 7097. This report starts with what’s in the final and follows with what dropped out along the way.

By 2030, Florida is expected to need an additional 4,671 primary care physicians. This shortage ultimately will result in limited access to care (especially in rural areas), higher healthcare costs, and reducing the quality of life for all. Floridians will start to experience the effects in the foreseeable future if a solution is not implemented. A proven cost-effective solution is to remove overly restrictive statutory barriers and allow nurse practitioners to practice to the full extent of their education and training.