Florida tax watchdog urges state to implement post-storm fixes

Florida is reeling from an unprecedented string of hurricanes, with October’s Category 3 (once a Category 5) Hurricane Milton following Category 4 Hurricane Helene by less than two weeks. August brought Hurricane Debby and there was flash flooding in South Florida in June. People are still recovering from storms in 2023 and 2022. Every Florida county was included in at least one of the numerous state of emergency declarations issued by Gov. DeSantis, most were included in multiple emergencies.

The governor, Legislature and many state and local agencies have been responding in an exemplary fashion first with search and rescue and providing shelter and other necessities to those displaced by the storms. Now comes rebuilding peoples’ lives. Many homes, businesses and other property were destroyed or severely damaged. Rebuilding residential and commercial property, agriculture, infrastructure and our natural resources will be a multi-year endeavor. These are the critical needs and Florida TaxWatch is confident our governments and the citizens of our state will once again rise to the challenge.

 As Florida TaxWatch did after the pandemic and Hurricane Ian, it has developed recommendations that can help lessen the taxpayers’ burden of complying with tax laws, protect them from penalties, interest, and over assessments when failure to comply is due to the storms, and help reduce their monetary tax burden.