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: Research, Taxes, Taxpayer Guide

Taxpayer Independence Day

On Friday, April 9, Florida TaxWatch joins the taxpayers in our state in celebrating Florida Taxpayer Independence Day 2021. On that day, Floridians are finally earning money for themselves–not for the tax collector. This symbolic date assumes that every dollar earned since January 1 goes to pay federal, state, and local tax obligations. This measure of tax burden is based on the relative size of all taxes paid in Florida to our state’s total personal income. In 2021, for the average Florida household, paying its taxes takes 98 out of 365 days, or more than three months.

Facts About Florida’s Tax Burden

  • Floridians’ tax burden (federal, state and local) totals $323 billion, 26.6 percent of personal income or 32.0 percent of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP).
  • Federal taxes make up 70 percent of Floridian’s total burden, state taxes account for 16 percent, and local taxes make up 14 percent.
  • For the average Florida household, earning enough to pay its taxes takes more than three months. Looking at it another way, you have to work approximately 2 hours and 8 minutes of each 8-hour workday to earn enough to pay taxes.
  • Taxes are a family’s single largest expense—more than food, housing and clothing combined.
  • Florida’s tax burden is smaller than the average American, so Taxpayer Independence Day comes earlier in Florida than it does nationally.
  • Florida’s state government tax burden is one of the lowest in the nation, while the local government burden is much closer to the national average.
  • If the more than $3.5 trillion federal deficit for 2021—which represents future taxes— were included, Taxpayer Independence Day would come more than two months later.

As the growth in taxes outpaces personal income growth, Florida TaxWatch projects that the average Florida household will see a 1.2 percent decrease in its effective buying power (EBP) during calendar year 2021.  After paying all taxes and adjusting for inflation, the average Florida household will have $1,215 less to spend in 2021 than it had in 2020. This is only the first annual decrease since 2012.  Despite the 2021 decrease, EBP is still up over the last ten years. Rising in eight of the ten years, EBP is now more than $10,000 (13.6 percent) greater than in 2011.

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