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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Florida's property tax system is at a critical juncture, with total levies surging by 108% over the last decade, far exceeding the combined rate of population growth and inflation. This rapid increase, generating $55 billion in 2024 for local governments, has intensified the financial strain on homeowners and raised fundamental questions about the nature of property ownership, which currently resembles a form of "perpetual rent" to the government. This report from Florida TaxWatch analyzes the current landscape and explores five distinct options for reform, ranging from the complete elimination of property taxes for homeowners to more immediate statutory changes aimed at increasing transparency and accountability.

Florida has proven ideas, demonstrated wins, and active tools; now it needs permanence. By embedding efficiency into the annual budget cycle—backed by transparent tracking and regular reporting—the state can convert sporadic initiatives into sustained savings and better service delivery for taxpayers.

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.

Florida TaxWatch’s 2025 Legislative Session Wrap-Up report provides a concise but comprehensive overview of the extraordinary budget impasse that extended this year’s session to June 6, 2025, the narrow scope of allowed legislation (including the General Appropriations Act, budget conforming bills, the House and Senate tax packages, and the Rural Renaissance bill), and the high-stakes negotiations that will resume on May 12 in conference committee.

Florida TaxWatch’s Florida Taxpayer Independence Day 2025 report commemorates the symbolic April 21 date when the average Floridian has earned enough to satisfy all federal, state, and local tax obligations. In 2025, Floridians spend 110 days—until 11:24 a.m.—paying taxes each year before they begin earning for themselves.