9 Actions Florida Should Take to Help Taxpayers Impacted by Hurricane Ian

1.     Postpone tax notices and waive penalties or interest for late tax filings in affected areas

2.     Extend the date for residents to take advantage of the tax discounts they would normally receive for paying property taxes and special assessments in November and postpone or defer the deadline for property tax installment payments

3.     Protect individual and business taxpayers from the risks for notices that they will likely not receive because their home or business addresses is not accessible anymore

4.     Issue no new audits in severely impacted areas, extend the statute of limitations and postpone existing audits that haven’t reached the assessment stage because these can’t be responded to while entire communities are still recovering

5.     Create procedures for fairly estimating taxes which can’t be calculated because records have been destroyed by the storm, moving away from the current method which significantly overestimates activity if no records are available

6.     Initiate procedures to offer payment plan assistance for late taxes, rather than resorting to the standard collection methods, like liens, levies, or bank freezes

7.     Retroactively apply the recently passed law that provides property tax refunds for residential property rendered uninhabitable as a result of a catastrophic event

8.     Provide tangible personal property relief and allow n on-residential properties rendered uninhabitable to receive property tax refunds

9.     Get Congress to pass a Disaster Tax Relief Act that includes provisions from past packages, including elements such as an Employee Retention Credit, an enhanced casualty loss deduction, and other relief provisions

Other Resources

Florida TaxWatch Statement on Hurricane Ian Recovery

Community Involvement

2016 How Florida Compares: Taxes

Florida has always had the reputation of being a low tax state. While this common perception is borne out by the newest available data contained in this report, the full picture is more complicated. Florida’s state tax collections per capita is nearly the lowest in the nation, higher than only New Hampshire, but when all state and local “own source revenues” are included, providing a more complete picture of overall government revenues, Florida ranks 38th nationally per capita. 

Whatever the metric of government revenues, whether tax collections or own source revenues, when local revenues are included in the calculation, Florida’s comparative ranking is higher than when only state revenues are compared. Florida’s “Per Capita State Own Source Revenue” ranking is 48th (see p. 20); Florida’s combined “Per Capita State & Local Own Source Revenue” ranking is 38th (see p. 8). Florida’s “Total Per Capita State Tax Collections” ranking is 49th (see p.21); Florida’s “Per Capita State & Local Tax Collections” ranking is 45th (see p. 11). 

Florida’s state and local revenue ranking was much higher leading into the recession, ranking 22nd in 2006. However, falling property values in Florida, along with continuing low state taxes, has caused the ranking to drop (see page 8). Looking at local revenues alone, Florida’s ranking fell from 6th to 11th over the same period. With property value climbing again, it is likely Florida’s rankings will climb as well (see page 40).

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