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, Taxes, Budget/Approps

Budget Watch - COVID-19 Impact

As Florida continues its battle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has released General Revenue (GR) collections data for June (the last month of the FY19-20 fiscal year).1 Collections came in $427.8 million (13.4 percent) below estimate, following losses of $878.1 million (29.4 percent) in April and $779.6 million (26.4) percent in May. Because collections were running a bit above estimate before the pandemic hit, the $2.1 billion loss in the last quarter puts Florida down $1.9 billion (5.7 percent) for the year. 

 As would be expected in Florida, where the Sales & Use Tax comprises such a large percentage of the state’s revenue, collection of said tax had the largest impact, accounting for 84.7 percent ($1.6 billion) of the yearly loss. Most of this was due to the virtual shutdown of the tourism and hospitality sector, resulting in sales tax collections coming in $937.9 million (52.8 percent) under estimate in the last quarter of FY2019-20—less than half of what was anticipated. Tourism-related collections were $43.1 million above estimate through March, so final collections were $894.8 million (14.0 percent) under estimate for the year. Collections in FY2019-20 were $686.1 million less than the prior year’s collections. Sales tax collections from tourism and hospitality accounted for almost half of the loss in total GR for the year.

Almost all sales tax sectors underperformed in the last quarter, with consumer non-durables (-18.4 percent), automobiles (-18.6 percent), durables (-16.7 percent), and business investment (-14.1 percent) all below forecast. Only building-related industries exceeded expectations (+12.4 percent). 

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