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, Budget/Approps

Budget Watch–General Revenue Estimates Reduced Slightly

 Loss of Indian Gaming Revenue Puts a Dent in General Revenue; State to Refund $542 Million in Excess Corporate Income Taxes

The General Revenue (GR) Estimating Conference met on August 14 to develop a new revenue forecast for Florida. It was a challenging and complex conference for the state’s economists.  The uncertainty surrounding corporate income tax collections, the loss of Indian gaming revenue, a weaker economic forecast, and the impact of Hurricane Michael were some of the factors they were dealing with.

The estimates of General Revenue for FY2019-20 and FY2020-21 were reduced from the last official GR Conference (March 2019) by $867.7 million; however, actual GR collections for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 (FY2018-19) came in $507.2 million over the last estimate and these are collections that were not anticipated.  Most of that added money ($385 million, 76 percent) is from corporate income tax (CIT) collections which, along with another $158 million in already collected CITs, will be refunded to taxpayers this Spring (see below). These refunds are a major reason the estimates were reduced and represent money the state did not expect to receive.

So, when FY2018-19 is included, the total revenue loss in the three years that can be used to fund the next budget is $360.5 million.

The other big contributor to the revenue decline is the loss of all Indian Gaming Revenue.  Due to the failure of the state to enter into a new compact with the Seminole Tribe, the Tribe ceased revenue sharing with the state after making its April 2019 payment. This reduces GR in FY2019-20 and FY2020-21 by a total of $683.8 million.  Florida will continue to lose approximately $350 million annually without a new compact.

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