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

2025 How Florida Counties Compare

2025 How Florida Counties Compare Report Cover

Florida TaxWatch’s 2025 How Florida Counties Compare is a data-driven guide to local taxing and spending across Florida. Because counties, cities, school districts, and special districts collectively raise and spend more than state government, the levels of taxing and spending can vary dramatically from one community to the next—this report is built to help you see how your county stacks up against the other 66 counties.

With property taxes and local government spending drawing heightened attention—including discussion of significant tax relief proposals that could go before voters in November 2026 and ongoing state audits focused on spending trends—this edition provides timely context on the full local revenue picture, not just property taxes. The guide includes more than 60 tables, charts, and graphs detailing local tax rates, tax collections, other revenue sources, and city and county expenditures.

The report compares the revenue and expenditure profiles of Florida’s 67 counties using the most recently available data on property taxes, other taxes and fees, and county and municipal revenues and expenditures, with per-capita figures based on the population for each data year. Property tax data comes from the Florida Department of Revenue, and other tax and fee data is largely compiled by the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research; local revenues are categorized using the state’s LOGER framework, and expenditures are grouped by major functions (e.g., general government, public safety, transportation, human services, and more). This publication is intended as a reference tool for taxpayers, policymakers, and elected officials and does not attempt to evaluate service levels.

Meet the Author:

Kurt Wenner
Kurt Wenner
Senior Vice President of Research
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