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: Blog

Renewal of Deserts: The Healthy Food Assistance Program

A food desert is described by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as an area that is “vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods.”  Food deserts are delineated by census tract and the official definition takes into account distance to a supermarket and median family income and census tract poverty levels.

A Florida TaxWatch analysis of data presented in the USDA’s 2015 Food Access Research Atlas indicates that about 26 percent of Floridians meet the USDA’s food desert distance criteria – that is, they live further than one mile from a grocery store (or 10 miles if they are in a rural census tract).   Over 8 percent of Floridians, or about 1.6 million residents, fit both the distance and income requirements of a food desert. 

Last month, Florida TaxWatch published a report documenting the negative impact of food deserts on health and property values.  This report specifically recommended the establishment of “financial instruments that make grant and loan money available for food retail projects to increase the presence of grocery stores and supermarkets in the areas that lack access to healthy foods.” 

The Healthy Food Assistance Program legislation (SB 1592) introduced by Senators Bean and Baxley, is in direct line with Florida TaxWatch’s recommendation.  The Healthy Food Assistance Program sought to establish a process by which small food retailers can receive grant assistance for projects that increase the availability of healthy foods in food deserts.   SB 1592 was unanimously approved by the Agriculture Subcommittee and the Environment and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee, landing in the Senate Appropriations Committee.  A similar house bill (HB 1083), introduced by Representative Lee, made it through  the Agriculture and Property Rights Subcommittee but was not put on the agenda in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee.  While it is unlikely this program will be approved this session, Florida TaxWatch encourages Florida lawmakers to carefully consider the merits of the Healthy Food Assistance program for next session.  In order to preserve and improve their health, Floridians must be able to access affordable, healthy foods, no matter where they live. 

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