Manufacturing is one of Florida’s leading industries and a key driver of job growth and economic strength, contributing more than $80 billion to Florida’s annual GDP. With more than 27,000 manufacturers—most of them small businesses with fewer than 20 employees—Florida’s manufacturing sector supports more than 430,000 high-wage jobs, with average salaries exceeding $78,000.

Florida TaxWatch examines the City of Clearwater’s plan to acquire Duke Energy Florida’s electric distribution assets and establish a municipal electric utility (MEU) in response to concerns over electric rates and service quality. While the City’s feasibility study projects modest short-term rate savings, Florida TaxWatch finds those projections rely on unrealistic assumptions—most notably an “overnight” conversion that ignores the likely decade-long, costly eminent domain process required to acquire Duke’s assets. Drawing on national municipalization case studies, the report highlights high failure rates, underestimated acquisition and severance costs, loss of economies of scale, and substantial financial exposure for taxpayers. Florida TaxWatch concludes that the proposed MEU represents a high-risk endeavor with limited upside and recommends the City pursue a renegotiated franchise agreement with Duke Energy Florida as a more prudent path forward.

The General Revenue (GR) Estimating Conference met on January 23 to adopt Florida’s latest GR forecast—the estimate that tells lawmakers how much is available for the next state budget. The updated forecast adds $572.5 million to the amount available for the upcoming budget year, but while meaningful, it amounts to only about one percent of total GR collections.

For more than 60 years, Florida’s Space Coast—anchored by Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS)—has served as a premier gateway to space, driving tourism, high-tech jobs, and statewide economic output. After major federal program shifts in the 2010s led to significant regional job losses, Florida’s modern commercial-space resurgence—supported by Space Florida’s strategy to diversify the supply chain, modernize infrastructure, and attract private capital—has positioned the Space Coast to lead the next era of aerospace growth.

Florida property tax levies have been rising rapidly—increasing by nearly 40 percent in just the last three years and more than doubling in the last ten years—with property taxes now totaling $59.2 billion (FY2025–26). With the Legislature’s increased focus on affordability, especially housing affordability, property taxes are expected to be a top issue during the 2026 legislative session.

Florida’s economy—valued at $1.76 trillion in Q1 2025—entered the year with strong momentum, but this Q3 2025 Florida TaxWatch forecast projects a return toward more “normal,” pre-pandemic growth rates over the next several years. While Florida’s population is still expected to climb to roughly 25.9 million by 2034, net migration is projected to cool as higher costs (housing, insurance, taxes) and other pressures weigh on in-migration.

In May 2025, Florida TaxWatch and the Florida Sheriff Association conducted a joint survey to local sheriff offices to learn more about law enforcement’s workforce challenges.

Setting water utility rates that incorporate the recovery of the costs associated with standard operating expenses and debt obligations is essential to ensuring the short-term and longer-term financial stability of the utility. Once these costs are covered, many publicly owned utilities make transfers to the General Fund (a practice known as “sweeping”) ostensibly to help pay for governmental services that do not generate revenue (e.g., roadway maintenance, public safety, etc.) and to help keep property taxes lower. Keeping property taxes low often means higher municipal utility rates to balance the general budget, a habitual practice that burdens utility customers with cross-subsidies and normalizes underinvestment in infrastructure.

NSU generated an estimated $293.1 million in state and local taxes within the Tri-County region in FY 2024-25 and an estimated $305.1 million in state and local taxes in FY 2024-25.

This report compares the revenue and expenditure profiles of Florida’s 67 counties to give taxpayers an overview of how their local government stacks up with the rest of the state.

Administered by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides funds to help low-income households afford low-cost, nutritious meals. In July 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (the OBBB Act), tightening SNAP policies that determine eligibility, benefits, and program administration. Florida TaxWatch undertakes this independent research project to better understand how the upcoming changes in SNAP requirements will impact Florida’s budget and its ability to provide much needed food assistance to needy Floridians.

LUCA Primer: The First Step in Preparing for the 2030 Census explains how Florida’s statistically significant undercount of approximately 750,000 residents in the 2020 Census cost the state an additional U.S. House seat, up to $21 billion in federal funds, and weakened the quality of the data that businesses and community leaders rely on for planning.