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

Expanding Drug Pricing Transparency

Over the past 40 years, the number of people filling prescriptions has increased steadily. Currently, almost 50 percent of Americans use at least one prescription drug daily.  In 2016, over 2.6 million prescriptions were filled in Florida’s retail pharmacies.  Not only is the number of prescriptions increasing but the cost of medications is on the rise.  From June 2015 to May 2016, average drug prices have increased nearly 10 percent and specialty prescription prices are projected to increase 18.7 percent in 2017.  Drugs are big business and spending on prescriptions is a major driver of healthcare costs

While drug costs are on the rise everywhere, there is a substantial difference in the price of medication between pharmacies.  In an attempt to bring more transparency to pharmaceutical costs and to allow residents to shop for the best prices, the Florida Attorney General and the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) partnered to create FloridaRX.com, a website that presents the costs of medications by geographic areas.  Launched in 2005, FloridaRX.com allows consumers to quickly price compare – and what they find may be surprising.  For example, in Miami the price for Advair, a commonly used asthma medication, varies from $271 to $643.  

Legislation introduced this session by Senator Bean (SB 888) and Representative Yarborough (HB 589) aims to increase the number of medications with pricing information on FloridaRX.com from 150 to 300 medications.  These bills have sailed through subcommittees with no opposition, landing in the Appropriation Committees.  While the Appropriation Committees have no more meetings scheduled, it is conceivable that the Rules Committee will take up the bill or additional Appropriation Committee meetings will be scheduled.  Florida TaxWatch encourages our legislators to carefully consider this expansion.  Transparency in pharmaceutical pricing has the potential to save Floridians money while helping to control the rising cost of care via competition. 

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