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: Blog

Public Records Bill Consistent with TaxWatch Recs

 

On Thursday, the House passed CS/CS/SB 80, an act that amends Florida’s public records law to require a court to ward attorney fees and enforcement costs in actions to enforce public records laws if: (1) the court determines that a public agency unlawfully refused access to a public record; and (2) the plaintiff provided written notice to sue the agency at least five business days before filing the action. CS/CS/SB 80 includes certain circumstances under which the advance written notice is not required.

Conversely, the court must award reasonable costs and attorney fees against the plaintiff if it determines that the request for public records or the action to enforce the request is frivolous, intended to harass the agency, or intended to cause a violation of the public records law.

CS/CS/SB 80 is consistent with recommendations contained in a January 2016 research report by Florida TaxWatch entitled “Predatory Public Records Requests.” TaxWatch undertook this research to examine the impacts of financially-motivated and malicious public records practices on public and private entities, and to make recommendations to stem the misuse of Florida’s public records law.

The intentional misuse of public records law that gave cause to CS/CS/SB 80 falls into one of two types.  The first involves public records requests filed with the intent of creating confusion that results in a lawsuit, with the hope of securing a cash settlement. The second involves those who file public records requests with the intent of preventing government from operating efficiently, by overburdening the budgets and staff of public agencies. 

Left unchecked, government will likely become less efficient, as the misuse of the public records laws will continue to overburden public officials, both in terms of staff time spent processing these malicious requests and budget dedicated to defending the public agency against these malicious public records lawsuits. Left unchecked, government will likely become less transparent and accountable, as public officials are more likely to conduct fewer meetings and more likely to create less documentation. This will make it more difficult for taxpayers to become informed, and more difficult for informed taxpayers to monitor the activities of their government.          

Florida TaxWatch commends the House and Senate for passing this important bill. CS/CS/SB 80 now goes to Governor Scott for consideration.

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