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

Budget Watch - Comparing the House and Senate Budgets

The House and Senate have passed their respective budgets and now must hold budget conference meetings to negotiate the differences. Agreement must be reached on every number and every word in the 400-plus page appropriations bill. Since lawmakers are constitutionally required to wait 72 hours before a final vote, a mutually agreed-upon budget must be produced by Tuesday, April 27 in order for an on-time finish of the session on Friday, April 30.


THE BUDGET IN CONTEXT

  • The Senate budget (SB 2500) totals $95.0 billion while the House (HB 5001) comes in at $97.1 billion.
  • The House budget is $4.8 billion more than current year spending, the Senate’s is about $2.7 billion more. The increase is due to federal funds (but no American Rescue Plan funds). Both chambers use approximately $2 billion in increased federal Medicaid funding.
  • There is little change in general revenue spending. The House spends $161 million (0.5%) more than current year, the Senate only $4 million more.
  • Not counting federal education funds that the House uses but the Senate does not, both budgets are about $2.5 billion less (approximately $1 billion less in GR) than the Governor’s budget recommendations.

Despite the $2.1 billion difference in the chambers’ bottom lines, they are not that far apart. The difference in the bottom lines is largely due to the House’s use of $2 billion in Elementary and Secondary Emergency Education Relief (ESSER) Funding from the federal government.


But as usual, there are some significant differences in the details. The use of federal funds will be one of the major issues of the conference, especially the $10 billion Florida will get from the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund. Florida will get also get $7 billion in ESSER funds. Except for the $2 billion in ESSER funds mentioned above, none of these stimulus funds are included in either chamber’s budget total (see Federal Stimulus Funds on page 8). If the chambers decide to appropriate some of the ARP funds, Florida could see its first $100 billion budget.

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