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

Lower Costs & Less Crime

“Tough on crime” policies of the 1980s and 90s were meant to improve public safety, but recently crime has continued to decline across the nation, even in the face of “softer” approaches to punishment. Florida’s crime rate is no different, but the Sunshine State continues to have one of the largest prison populations in the nation, despite dwindling corrections budgets and diminishing returns to public safety.

Florida can no longer rely on the outdated and inefficient policies of the past, and must begin to consider policies and practices that not only keep Floridians safe, but also address the two primary drivers of growth in the criminal justice system: overincarceration and recidivism. The recommendations detailed in this report, while by no means an exhaustive list of necessary improvements, aim to put Florida on the path to achieve these goals. These recommendations are to:

  • Increase the use of civil citation (or other pre-arrest diversion programs) for youth and adult misdemeanants;
  • Expand the use of forensic mental health diversion programs;
  • Reduce penalties for and divert “driving while license suspended” (DWLS) offenders;
  • Restore judicial discretion for specific mandatory minimum cases;
  • Develop risk/needs assessments and cost-analysis tools to be used at the time of sentencing;
  • Update Florida’s drug possession laws and reduce penalties;
  • Increase the amount of usable gain time for nonviolent inmates;
  • Authorize the possibility of conditional and supervised early release for elderly and infirm inmates;
  • Lengthen the period of eligibility for and expand transitional work-release programs; and
  • Promote strategies that improve released offenders’ employment opportunities

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