Tax Day is a good time to dig into what we really pay in taxes. In Florida, we’re fortunate not to have a state income tax and as such our overall personal tax burdens are much lower than most Americans. Florida Tax Watch has done an excellent job providing information about what the average Floridian’s tax burden happens to be. According to their 2019 report, federal taxes are 69% of our tax burden, state taxes are 17% and local taxes 14%.
Those are statewide averages. However, in South Florida, we have the highest property tax rates in the state, our local burden is a bit higher than 14%. It’s a reminder to mind to store when it comes to local politics. On that note, Florida Tax Watch had this to say, “Even with the federal tax cuts of 2017 and the Florida Legislature’s tax-cutting policy, tax collections paid by Floridians grew faster than their income in 2019 so Taxpayer Independence Day is coming one day later this year.”
While Tax Day is today, “Tax Freedom Day”, the day when you finally start working for yourself rather than the government, is tomorrow. In other words, if you’re trying to figure out how much of your time and money is dedicated to taxation, all of the work you’ve done in 2019 has been for governments thus far. Does that potentially alter your perspective? If it does, pass this message on.