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

/ Categories: Op-Eds

In Tight Budget Year, Lawmakers Must Commit to Government Efficiency

As the next legislative session approaches, Florida lawmakers face an uphill battle in funding critical government services while trying to sustain the state’s economic success.

Recent forecasts paint a gloomy picture, with less money available to meet the state’s critical needs. Additionally, the predicted $1 billion-plus shortfalls in future years loom large. This makes it even more important for the Legislature to implement cost savings and government efficiencies.

Luckily, there exists a simple solution.

Adopted by the voters of the Sunshine State in 2006, the state’s constitution requires a Government Efficiency Task Force (GETF) to meet every four years, first meeting in 2007.‚Ä≠ ‚ĨI am honored to have been a member of the task force, which consists of some of our state’s leading business and political leaders.‚Ä≠ ‚ĨThese leaders truly understand that they are there to represent you and introduce fresh ideas to ensure every taxpayer dollar is well spent, not wasted.‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ

The Task Force released a report earlier this year detailing 29 recommendations that would improve government operations while saving hard-working Florida taxpayers’ money –15 of which would come at no additional cost to the state. The potential cost-savings the state could realize if these recommendations were implemented could exceed $2 billion annually.

The highlights of the recommendations include enacting an annual Florida Government Efficiency Act, conducting an operational review of the Florida Department of Corrections, smarter sentencing for low-level nonviolent offenders and removing barriers to the use of telehealth strategies.

Florida TaxWatch has served as the watchdog for state taxpayers for more than‭ ‬35‭ ‬years and the improvement of government processes has been a key tenet of Florida TaxWatch since its inception. No matter where you stand politically, everyone agrees that taxpayers deserve a government that works effectively and efficiently.

The savings realized by implementing these recommendations could be reinvested in our children’s education, reforming our justice system, improving health care outcomes for those in need, economic development and a myriad of other crucial policy issues that need attention.‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ‚Ĩ

We hear a lot about how policymakers want to improve the functions of government. If they want to get serious about this, the GETF recommendations are a great place to start to accomplish this challenging, yet obtainable, goal.

Dominic M. Calabro is the president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. This op-ed was featured in the Tallahassee Democrat.

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