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: Blog

All-Stars a Three Run Homer for Miami

Tuesday night, Miami wrapped up its week of hosting the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game and surrounding events. While the game was more of a pitcher’s duel with the fireworks coming in extra innings, the local economy can relate more to Monday night’s Home Run Derby.

For the first time in the 88 years of the MLB All-Star game, the event was hosted in Miami, Florida; and as cities typically do during major sporting events, the local economy cashed in. It is estimated that the economic impact of the event was roughly $80 million. For comparison sake, this is roughly equal to the spending of 80,000 tourists taking an average trip to Florida.

While the game itself certainly attracted locals, events in conjunction were well attended in the days leading up to the contest. One example is FanFest, a multi-day event that was hosted at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Monday and Tuesday during All-Star Week. This year’s event attracted more than 100,000 fans, many of which are tourists visiting the area for the game.

Tourists to the area also helped local hotels fill rooms during a time that is considered the off-season for the region and state. In total, 19 hotels contracted with the MLB to become official accommodation partners for tourists to the area, while dozens more likely benefited from the increased traffic. 

Overall, it seems like the 2017 MLB All-Star game went off without a hitch. Fans got to watch the coming-out party for a young star in Yankee’s outfielder Aaron Judge, the fans in attendance got an inning of “free baseball” thanks to extra innings and the local economy reaped major economic benefits. Now the city of Miami has a few years to get ready for the Super Bowl in 2020.

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