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, Guest Columns, Blog

IDEAS IN ACTION: Be Prepared: Using Florida’s Natural Infrastructure to Combat Climate Change

Guest Column By Josiah Neeley

Natural infrastructure refers to natural features of the environment that can reduce risk from flooding, storms or other extreme weather events. Examples of natural infrastructure include wetlands, marshes, mangroves and coral reefs. Natural infrastructure can reduce damage from extreme weather in a variety of ways. Wetlands and marshes, for example, can absorb storm surge, preventing or reducing flooding in other areas. A mere 15 feet of marsh can absorb as much as half of the energy of incoming waves. Mangroves can also reduce impacts from storm surges. One study found that 330 feet of mangrove trees “can reduce wave height by 66 percent.”2 Coral reefs can also help dissipate wave energy, reducing the impact of storms.

Meeting Florida’s future climate challenges will require ingenuity, and the state will need to use every available mechanism to reduce risk at reasonable cost. Taking full advantage of Florida’s natural resources must be part of that process. While not appropriate in every case, the state needs to consider natural infrastructure solutions as an option in planning and implementing mitigation projects.

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