Things To Do In SW Florida

Federal estate taxes apply equally to all no matter where in the United States they live. State estate taxes and inheritance taxes vary significantly among states.

Estate taxes are paid by the estate based on its size at the time of the estate owner’s death. Both federal and state estate taxes have exemptions. Taxes, if any, are based on the size of the estate above the exemption amounts. There is no state estate tax or inheritance tax if assets are inherited by a surviving spouse who is a U.S. citizen.

Inheritance taxes are paid by individuals rather than the estate. Inheritance taxes, too, have exemptions, and taxes are owed only on amounts that exceed the exemption. Inheritance taxes are based on the relationship between the deceased individual and the individual who inherited funds. Each state establishes its own regulations in this regard. Unmarried parties generally pay the highest inheritance taxes.

Federal estate taxes range from 18% to 40% for estates above $12.92 million. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have either estate or inheritance taxes. Maryland is the only state that has both estate and inheritance taxes. read more

Orange County commissioners are poised to cleave $15 million and possibly more from Visit Orlando’s annual budget Tuesday when they consider rewriting the contract of the tourist-tax-funded, destination marketing agency.

The elected board — excluding Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who did not attend — held an unusual discussion Jan. 16 and knocked around possible changes to the county funding agreement with Visit Orlando.

Commissioners reached consensus on a few points at the two-hour session, including chopping the agency’s share of overall tourist-tax revenue by 5 percentage points, to 25%. They are expected to vote for real at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday.

Visit Orlando got more than $100 million in 2023 from a 30% portion of the tax proceeds, also known as the tourist development tax or TDT.

If future TDT collections stay on pace with those of the last 23 months, the cut in the agency’s allotment would mean about $18 million less for Visit Orlando’s marketing and promotions operation over the next 12 months. read more

A new project in the works for Winter Haven aims to address the area’s affordable housing shortage with a simple, yet livable design, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

The developer is using a “Lego-like” building method with a recycled material called Renco, which comes from combining the words renewable and composite. The bricks join together like Legos, which simplifies and quickens the building process compared to traditional construction methods using concrete, steel, and wood.

First developed in Turkey over a decade ago, Renco is now approved for construction in the United States and is increasing in popularity within Florida since it holds up well against hurricanes. The first building stateside to use the construction method was an apartment building in Palm Springs, Florida, that was built 20% cheaper and 20% faster than a typical project constructed with concrete.

Freedom Housing Partners will serve as the developer for the Avenue G Garden Apartments, which will bring 120 studio and one-bedroom apartments, ranging from 300 to 400 square feet, to Winter Haven in Polk County. read more

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

Remote and hybrid work has affected many industries, from commercial real estate to downtown restaurants. And it has impacted how many workers, unfettered by office attendance requirements, plan their travels.

Some call it “bleisure travel,” “laptop lugging,” “workations” or simply “blended travel.” The gist is the same: Remote and hybrid employees extend work trips to include leisure activities or work during their leisure trips.

Whatever it’s called, it could upend the traditional divide between leisure and business travel.

The travel lodging industry is already seeing the trend’s impact. Because bleisure travelers’ needs differ from those of traditional vacationers or work trippers, existing lodging options — particularly hotels — can fall short. This has created an opportunity and appears to be fueling a boom among short-term vacation rentals such as Airbnb.

Quarterly demand growth for short-term rentals has outpaced that for hotels since the first quarter of 2022, when travel began to fully rebound from the pandemic, according to a 2023 report from AirDNA and STR/CoStar, hospitality industry analytic services. This shift reflects changing traveler preferences and the ability of short-term rental hosts to react swiftly to these changes. read more

By JOE REEDY and DAVID BAUDER (AP Sports Writer)

The jobs of people who produce Sports Illustrated were in limbo Friday after the company that paid to maintain the iconic brand’s print and digital products told staff that its license was revoked.

In an email to employees Friday morning, the Arena Group, which operates Sports Illustrated and related properties, said that because of the revocation, “we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand.”

Authentic Brands Group owns the Sports Illustrated brand and had been licensing it to Arena. Authentic later said in a statement it intends to keep Sports Illustrated going. The company is negotiating with Arena and other publishing entities to determine who will do that, according to a person with knowledge of the talks who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about them.

Until those negotiations are resolved, it’s unclear which journalists would actually do the work of making Sports Illustrated. It was not clear how many jobs were affected. read more