(The Center Square) – Encouraging a fair start in 2030 and pointing out what it believes are losses from 2020, an independent nonpartisan taxpayer research institute in Florida has released an apportionment report and four suggested actions.
Florida TaxWatch says all states should be counting residents in a manner consistent with other states. Part of that, it says, is reliability on residents.
The nonprofit says residents of its fast-growing state should be up to date on census-related issues; spread awareness; encourage involvement by businesses and government; and invest philanthropically with organizations and grassroots efforts to complete the surveys.
TaxWatch says, unbeknownst to many, the Local Update of Census Addresses is a process three years prior to the census where every municipality and county provide existing residences. Without the locations, census officials do not even attempt to count residents.
Census Briefing – Apportionment Changes Amid Policy Proposals is the September research released on Tuesday. It offered three scenarios tied to the 2020 census, accurate counting of residents, and the counting of people illegally in the country.
In those three examinations, seating in the U.S. House of Representatives would have been altered. Federal funding, too, would have changed and for Florida the decade total is estimated between $11 billion and $21 billion.
“During the 2020 census, an estimated 750,000 Floridians failed to respond to their census survey, resulting in a statistically significant undercount of 3.48%,” said Dominic Calabro, the president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. “Any change to the operations of the census count must withstand constitutional scrutiny, which is why Florida TaxWatch examined three scenarios under the current proposed changes – concluding that Florida would have gained at least one additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in every scenario.”
Jeff Kottkamp, the executive vice president and general counsel for the nonprofit, said every state should count residents in the same way.
“Planning for the next census count is currently shrouded by questions of whom to count and when to count,” he said. “The three scenarios outlined by Florida TaxWatch reveal the answer to perhaps the most critical question for Florida taxpayers – what is at stake for the state of Florida?”
