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

Download the Recommendations

Other Resources

Florida Disaster.biz
FEMA
Florida Department of Financial Services
Florida SBDC
Disaster Contractors Network
Florida Disaster Fund

Florida TaxWatch Statement on Hurricane Ian Recovery

Community Involvement

/ Categories: Research, COVID Recovery, Economic Development

Beyond the Pandemic: Long-Term Changes and Challenges for Florida’s Workforce

In many ways, Florida's workforce looks starkly different from when it first entered the pandemic over a year ago. Challenges with controlling the spread of COVID-19 precipitated the widespread use of remote work and other digital formats across the state. These changes accelerated workforce trends that were present before COVID-19 (such as automation) and now foreshadow a future workforce that will constantly face disruption and displacement. Ultimately, these changes have long-term ramifications for Florida’s future economic growth, talent pipeline, workforce development, and fiscal sustainability.

Within the workforce, no change has been as dominant and widespread as the shift to remote work during the pandemic. As companies grappled with abrupt workplace closures during the pandemic, remote work began to proliferate, rising to nearly 32 percent of Florida’s workforce during the latter half of 2020. The same trend occurred across the nation as more than one in three workers transitioned to remote work. Future remote work will have a significant impact on local economic activity.

In addition to remote work, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) among companies in various industries. As companies sought to limit the risk of infection in workplaces and maintain operations, many businesses deployed automation and AI in various contexts: at grocery stores, restaurants, warehouses, hotels, clinics, and more. Across all sectors, and especially within service-oriented industries, automation was a widespread means of survival—rather than a means of competitive advantage—to continue business operations while also dealing with public health risks. Looking ahead, companies will increasingly prioritize capital investment in new technologies to adapt to more frequent future disruptions.

The pandemic has demonstrated that talent does not have to be place-bound (restricted to a particular location). This, in turn, creates a future economic benefit for Florida if it attracts workers to relocate to Florida while working remotely for out-of-state companies. Remote work will also require policymakers and economic developers to rethink the traditional metrics that have typified economic development, namely job creation and capital investment. For Florida’s future fiscal picture, changes in the post-COVID workforce will inevitably affect how much tax revenue state and local governments collect.

Additional factors that remain unknown at the moment, yet require continued research, include the impact of childcare responsibilities, unemployment insurance, and workers’ desires for higher-skilled jobs. Despite the uncertainty around these areas of interest, one thing does remain clear: Florida’s workforce, much like the rest of the world, is undergoing a seismic change that will transform the future of work.

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