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

The Impact of a $15/hr Minimum Wage

In states across the nation, minimum wage policies continue to dominate political and economic discussions. Recently, two of the nation’s largest states, New York and California, have both passed laws that will gradually raise the minimum wage in those states to $15 per hour. While these decisions have been met with support and criticism, the impacts in each state will be followed closely across the nation.

The idea of a $15 per hour minimum wage has also been discussed by state legislators in Florida. During the 2016 legislative session, Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 109 were introduced and proposed raising Florida’s minimum wage to $15 per hour starting in January of 2017. The bills would have replaced Florida’s existing floating minimum wage, which is currently $8.05 per hour. Florida’s minimum wage is reviewed each year, and either remains steady, or is increased to account for changes in the cost of living. While both bills died during the committee meeting process, the fight to raise Florida’s minimum wage to $15 per hour is likely to continue. With this in mind, it is important that taxpayers and policymakers understand how an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour would impact businesses, the job market, and the everyday lives of Florida residents.

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