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

Reducing the Business Rent Tax

When examining Florida’s tax landscape, the Business Rent Tax (BRT) stands out as a tax that creates a clear competitive disadvantage for the state’s businesses. Florida is the only state that levies a statewide sales tax on commercial rents. This creates a government-mandated increase in occupancy costs of up to 7.5 percent, which does not exist in other states. Occupancy costs are one of the top factors cited by executives and site selection consultants in making location decisions.

A reduction in the BRT would be broad-based, benefiting a large number of businesses. All businesses that rent commercial real estate pay the sales tax on those rents, regardless of their profitability or financial shape. Reducing the sales tax would help be a significant help to struggling companies. It would also help new businesses, who may find that other startup costs rule out purchasing real estate as an option.

Eliminating the BRT tax would be a long-term proposal, due to the large revenue loss. Florida relies very heavily on transaction taxes—especially the sales and use tax—to fund government. The sales tax provides 77 percent of all GR. Eliminating the BRT would take some major restructuring of the state’s revenues and expenditures. However, under the current budget outlook, and with the stated intention of both the Governor and Legislature to provide significant tax relief this upcoming session, there is an opportunity to at least reduce the BRT.

Florida TaxWatch recommends that the Legislature enact a reduction of at least 1 percent in the 2016 Regular Session, lowering the rate from 6 percent to 5 percent. We also recommend that future legislatures continue to work to eliminate this tax.

Among all the options for tax reductions that will be considered by the 2016 Legislature, reducing the business rent tax, along with making the sales tax exemption for manufacturing machinery and equipment permanent, are the best options.

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