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, Budget/Approps

THE GOVERNOR’S FY2021-22 BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS

Federal Funds Would Lead to Record Spending

 

Despite the negative revenue impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Legislature’s early talk of shortfalls and budget cuts, Governor Ron DeSantis has released a proposed budget for FY2021- 22 that totals $96.578 billion, a $4.308 billion (4.7 percent) increase over current year spending. This would be the largest state budget in history and the fourth largest annual growth in the last ten years.

Estimated General Revenue (GR) collections for the upcoming budget year (FY2021-22) are $1.4 billion below what was anticipated by the pre-pandemic forecast. This follows total revenue losses of $3.9 billion in FY2019-20 and FY2020-21. Still, the Governor’s budget recommendations would increase GR spending by more than $1 billion (3.0 percent) next year, and still leave $2.2 billion in unallocated GR (cash) reserves. Total state reserves of $4.9 billion would be at the largest level since before the Great Recession

The proposed budget includes some significant spending priorities of the Governor including a new program to provide $1 billion in grants to improve coastline resiliency, more than $625 million for water resource restoration and recovery, $550 million to continue raising teacher salaries, $423 million for affordable housing, a $285 million increase in public school funding, and a net increase of 324 state employee positions. The Governor is also recommending limited tax relief.

 

Read the full report below. 

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