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

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Florida's Certificate of Need Program Delivers High Quality Hospice Care

Although a relatively low number of providers provide for this number of patients, the quality of hospice services in Florida surpasses the quality demonstrated in many other states. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services measures the overall quality of hospice care with two indicators --- the Hospice and Palliative Care Composite Process Measure and the Hospice Care Index Overall Score. Compared to other states, Florida’s performance measured by the Hospice and Palliative Care Composite Process Measure ranks 6th and its score for the Hospice Care Index Overall Score is tied for 3rd.

In the absence of CON regulations, states have demonstrated prolific growth of hospice providers. The more hospice providers a state has, the harder it becomes to monitor for quality and safeguard against fraud. A large number of providers also makes the state more susceptible to fraud since there is only a limited number of eligible hospice patients. California effectively illustrates the risks of amending or repealing a hospice CON program. California has more than one thousand hospice providers, and state auditors found that the state is likely experiencing large-scale hospice fraud. Hospice fraud threatens the safety of California’s residents and wastes taxpayer dollars. The California Attorney General estimates that in Los Angeles County alone, hospice agencies overbilled Medicare by $105 million and the state’s Medi-Cal by $3.1 million in 2019.

Florida’s hospice delivery system works. The Certificate of Need Program has intentionally planned and developed a network of high-quality, readily available hospice providers. Florida TaxWatch recommends the CON program be retained in statute, and that hospice regulators continue to identify ways that Florida hospice providers can continue to provide high quality care for Floridians.

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