Today, Florida TaxWatch released the 2018 edition of the How Florida Compares: Taxes report. For several years, TaxWatch has published this easy-to-use guide to help Floridians better understand their state through comparing our state’s taxes to those that are levied across the nation. The How Florida Compares: Taxes report provides nonpartisan information on where Florida ranks and contains nearly 40 tables, graphs, and charts that provide a comprehensive look at tax collections and other government revenues for all 50 states.

With Florida’s prison population one of the largest in the country, lawmakers have made a concentrated push to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the state correctional system. The latest report by Florida TaxWatch, the state’s premier, non-partisan government watchdog, offers a detailed analysis of the state’s sentencing, incarceration, prisoner, and correctional budget histories, allowing policy makers and the public to identify areas in need of improvement regarding corrections.

Florida TaxWatch, the state’s premier non-profit, non-partisan government watchdog, highlights how performance-based contracting, or pay-for-performance, can increase efficiency and create successful outcomes in public sector contracting in its August 2016 Economic Commentary. Evidence shows that when applied correctly, performance-based contracting can minimize the risk to the taxpayer while maximizing project outcomes.

Florida’s prison population is among the largest in the United States and is expected to continue growing in the coming years. This problem is not going away: Roughly one-quarter of Florida inmates reoffend within three years of being released. As these offenders cycle in and out of state and local facilities, they build upon the already crippling corrections costs incurred by taxpayers.

Thanksgiving for most people often invokes images of family gatherings, turkey, and football. But for retailers, it invokes images of large crowds of shoppers and dollar signs. Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are cash cows for businesses, particularly the retail and food industries. Those days are also important for Florida, as the state will collect a six percent sales and use tax on most of the goods purchased by shoppers, except for most grocery items.