Many Florida homeowners are worried a hurricane tax could be looming over the state as hurricane season is in high gear.

While Hurricane Idalia spared Southwest Florida, there is fear that another big storm to any part of the state could leave everyone paying for repair bills for years to come.

If a private insurance company gets hit with a big storm and they can’t afford to pay out… they can go bankrupt.  However, state-run Citizens can’t go belly up, so that leaves people statewide — even those who don’t own a home in Florida, picking up the tab.

Shawn Barker of Punta Gorda said it’s on his mind and every Floridian’s mind that insurance rates could go up even further.

Governor Ron DeSantis warned back in March that Citizens simply doesn’t have enough money to cover its more than 1.3 million policies.

“I think, as most people know, Citizens has not been solvent; if you did have a major hurricane hit with a lot of citizens property holders, it would not have enough to pay out,” DeSantis stated.

Currently, Citizens has about $4.8 billion in the bank, and Idalia claims are expected to take a big chunk of it since Citizens is the largest insurer in the Big Bend area where the storm made landfall.

Mark Friedlander with the Insurance Information Institute revealed that an analysis prior to the storm showed Citizens had more than 190,000 policies in the counties that would receive a direct impact from Idalia.

“If it were a worst-case scenario, it would be a $72 billion loss for Citizens,” Friedlander said.

While the loss isn’t that great, the only way the state-run company could pay out is to charge everyone a hurricane tax.

Reid McDaniel with McDaniel Insurance Solutions in North Fort Myers said that is the big issue.

“We want fewer and fewer people to be in Citizens because of the problem it poses… not just for Citizens policyholders, but for Floridians everywhere,” McDaniels said.

That insurance tax would also be placed on car and renters’ insurance.

It last happened in 2004 when 10 hurricanes hit the state, and Florida residents were stuck paying off citizens $1.7 billion tab through 2015.

Citizens realizes how vulnerable it is. The company recently asked the state for a 12% increase, but that was rejected, and while it may save policyholders money, it could end up costing all of us in the long run.