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

Hospice and Palliative Care

Florida is a National Leader Among the States Looked to for Best Practices in Compassionate Care

2025 Hospice and Palliative Care Report Cover

Florida's aging population is driving sustained demand for cost-effective, patient-centered care across the continuum. Palliative care—non-curative, interdisciplinary support for patients with serious but often nonterminal conditions—improves quality of life and can lower overall costs when introduced early in the disease course. Hospice provides end-of-life care once a clinician certifies a terminal prognosis; in Florida, hospice providers operate under a Certificate of Need (CON) program that authorizes new entrants only when unmet need is demonstrated through twice-yearly batching cycles.

Florida's CON-planned network performs among the nation's best—ranked 6th on the Hospice & Palliative Care Composite Process Measure and tied for 2nd on the Hospice Care Index—while serving a large and growing caseload (166,116 hospice patients in 2024; 94 licensed programs operated by 57 providers). Key constraints limit wider access to upstream palliative care. The current reimbursement landscape often fails to cover providers' full costs, and low public awareness slows timely referrals, despite evidence that earlier use improves outcomes. Workforce capacity is another pressure point: a sizable share of physicians are nearing retirement and palliative teams face heightened burnout risk.

Florida TaxWatch recommends actions to scale what works and close gaps. First, expand community/home-based palliative care—models associated with higher satisfaction, more appropriate hospice use, and lower system costs. Second, establish a clear palliative-care regulatory framework that defines services and standards, provides predictable payment, and strengthens oversight. Third, better leverage the clinical workforce by granting APRNs appropriate autonomy in hospice/palliative settings to relieve bottlenecks and reduce costs. Fourth, fund Medicaid pilots to transition eligible patients into hospice earlier, improving sequencing across the continuum. Finally, retain hospice CON in statute to preserve Florida's high-quality, fraud-resistant network while continuing to refine regulation for access and accountability.

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Meet the Author:

Jessica Cimijotti-Little
Jessica Cimijotti-Little
Research Analyst
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