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

Download the Recommendations

Other Resources

Florida Disaster.biz
FEMA
Florida Department of Financial Services
Florida SBDC
Disaster Contractors Network
Florida Disaster Fund

Florida TaxWatch Statement on Hurricane Ian Recovery

Community Involvement

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The Lionfish: Threatening Native Fish and Florida's Fishing Industries

Florida is blessed with a world-renowned natural environment, which helps drive a colossal tourism industry, and makes the state a great place to work and play. With this dependence on nature, invasive species can have a significant (and often expensive) impact on Florida’s economy and desirability. Invasive species are plants or animals that are not native to a given area, typically introduced by people; and because they are not native to the area, natural predators are typically absent, allowing invasive species to thrive, consuming native species and reproducing quickly.

The lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific region, is an invasive species in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean that devours native fish and competes for food with native predators, and represents a threat to several important industries in Florida, including sport and commercial fishing, and to the health of coral reefs and the biodiversity in our waters. In addition to killing native species, the lionfish also reproduces at a much faster rate than other fish in the region, and is able to adapt to almost any environment, from a 1-foot deep mangrove stand to a more than 1,000-feet deep reef.  Two particular species affect Florida and nearby waters: the red lionfish (Pterois volitans) and common lionfish (Pterois miles).

 First caught in 1985 in Dania, Florida, the precise reason for its arrival to the Atlantic coast is unknown; however, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other conservation groups have stated that the most likely cause is individuals dumping these fish and/or their eggs into the wild from their aquariums. The species exponentially grew along the Florida Keys and the Bahamas from 2004 to 2010.

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