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

/ Categories: Research, Census, Taxpayer Guide

An Accurate Count in the 2020 Census is Vital for Florida

Billions of Dollars are at Stake

It is 2020, so it is time for the next United States Census, as required by the Constitution. The first census was in 1790--George Washington was President and Thomas Jefferson served as supervisor of the census. The main reason for the de- cennial census, conducted every 10 years, is to apportion representation in Congress.

But the value of the census extends far beyond that. It also helps determine the distribution of hundreds of billions of dollars in annual federal program funding to the states. It is also used for planning and decision-making throughout the public and private sectors.

Florida is now the third largest state in the nation with 21.5 million people and one of the fastest growing—adding 640 people a day. Florida has a history of being undercounted in the census and an undercount in this census will negatively impact the state for another ten years.

See report below, or visit the Census page for more information!

Documents to download

Print
3313 Rate this article:
No rating

x