Local government officials statewide are wary of plans by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Legislature to slash or abolish homestead property taxes, but one group of counties is particularly worried.
They are Florida’s “fiscally constrained” counties: 29 mostly rural counties with small populations, few industries and lots of agricultural or conservation land — and therefore small tax bases.
That means those counties depend more heavily on taxes on homestead property, the primary residence of the owner.
That’s the kind of property taxes DeSantis wants to abolish.
DeSantis believes having to pay property taxes on your home means you don’t really own it – you’re “just renting it from the government,” he said in his 2025 State of the State address.
Chris Doolin, a Tallahassee lobbyist who represents an association of small Florida counties, including the fiscally constrained counties, disagrees.
“You have no mortgage on your house with the state or local government,” he said. The taxes “pay for services, which are determined through a budget process.”
“Fiscally constrained counties” are defined in Florida law as those where 1 mill of property tax — $1 tax on every $1,000 worth of property — produces $5 million or less in revenue.
By comparison, 1 mill produced $290 million in Palm Beach County in 2023, according to figures from the Florida Association of Counties (FAC).
In those smaller counties, Doolin said, “The major expense is the sheriff’s office, then the constitutional offices” — elections supervisor, clerk of court, tax collector, property appraiser.
After that, he said, if homestead taxes were abolished, “In some of these counties there would be very little left for roadwork, emergency services, fire protection, libraries, parks” or cultural efforts such as historic preservation and festivals.
Statewide, taxes on homesteads are a bit more than a third of all property taxes — about $19 billion of $55 billion.
But in several of the fiscally constrained counties, homestead taxes are 40 percent or more.
In Wakulla County, one of the fiscally-constrained counties, slightly more than half its property tax revenue in 2024 came from homesteads.
By comparison, in Miami-Dade County, which has the state’s largest tax base, only 27 percent of the county’s property tax revenue came from homesteads, FAC figures show.
In Miami-Dade, spending on public safety is about one sixth of all county expenditures, while in Wakulla it’s close to a third.
In Jefferson, another fiscally constrained county, public safety is half of all county expenditures.
Florida law limits county tax rates to 10 mills without a referendum.
Eliminating homestead taxes, said Wakulla County Commissioner Ralph Thomas, a Republican, “would not be a matter of just tightening our belt. This won’t be trimming the fat, this will be a dismemberment of vital services that are wanted and needed by our public.”
But several of the fiscally constrained counties — Glades, Holmes, Liberty, Madison and Putnam — are already at or close to that limit.
In Okeechobee County, 35 percent of the land area has conservation easements, which lower property taxes, said county Commissioner Terry Burroughs.
“We have lots of land, but we don’t have a lot of industrial or commercial properties to increase the non-homestead part of it,” Burroughs said.
Burroughs noted the counties face substantial expenses as a result of state mandates.
The amounts counties must contribute to Medicaid and to the state retirement system are determined by the Florida Legislature, for example, and have gone up significantly in recent years, he said.
DeSantis has vowed that if homestead taxes are abolished, the state will make up the lost revenue for the fiscally constrained counties.
He said the amount would be negligible in the state’s budget — $117 billion in 2025-26 — calling it “budget dust” in an appearance in October at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, as reported by Florida Politics.
But former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg questioned that confident prediction, noting that the state Office of Economic and Demographic Research has predicted state budget deficits beginning in 2027.
Brandes said the idea “would have to turn (local governments) into state-dependent entities,” but noted that DeSantis will be out of office by the time the changes take effect. Brandes now runs a non-profit think tank, the Florida Public Policy Project.
DeSantis, meanwhile, hasn’t yet presented a detailed proposal for his goal of abolishing homestead taxes, or for how the state would go about offsetting the losses in the fiscally constrained counties.
“I haven’t seen any details of how that would work,” said Thomas of Wakulla County.
“Are we going to have to go lobby the Legislature for what we need, instead of our citizens lobbying their own local elected officials? I see it as very cumbersome, very difficult.”
He questioned whether legislators, who will see their own home counties’ budgets being cut, will feel generous toward other counties asking for money.
The fiscally constrained counties tend to be Republican-dominated — Wakulla and Okeechobee county commissioners, for example, are all Republicans.
But that didn’t stop county officials from criticizing DeSantis’ proposal.
“We don’t want to be beholden to the Legislature … being forced to go and try to extract money from the state each year,” said Burroughs of Okeechobee.
He said DeSantis’ proposal “is a bad idea because he has no plan as to how to do it.”
“It’s a political idea instead of a proposal with facts and figures behind it,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said, DeSantis’ Florida DOGE effort — an initiative akin to President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency — is “trying to incite the general public with how much waste there is in these counties.”
“This is all political,” Burroughs said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with making things better for our taxpayers.”
William March has written about politics in the Tampa Bay area for the past 40 years. He has worked for newspapers in his native North Carolina and for the Tampa Tribune, the Tampa Bay Times and the Associated Press in Florida. This article first appeared on Florida Trident and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
JimboXYZ says
Just my gut feeling, elimninating property taxes, opens the door to inflation, as well as calling the tax something else. At some point when will State income taxes be on the table ? In state’s that have income taxes, those offset federal taxes every April. And it’s that state’s way of ensuring they get their 1st cut at slimming the state’s income tax revenue before it’s paid to the IRS. Anytime they’ve come up with a solution it ends up costing more, just like he inflation on everything else before & after income taxes. Fear not FlaglerLive, the Government will find a way to raise the money. Take the Mega Millions Lottery is now 2.5X what it previously cost to buy a panel, going from $ 2/ticket panel with adder options to a flat $ 5/ticket panel as a flat no option lottery play. A portion of the winnings goes to Education is any one still believes that ? So even the schools are full of crap that they won’t be funded. The property tax is a bunch of experts assessing homes now at double the amount they were, raising taxes. It was Bidenomics era fraud & abuse. As unsustainable & unaffordable a property theft & wealth grab as it became. Back when Alfin created Alfinville, he’s on record as “wanting to see the median house price in Palm Coast between $ 300-400 K , wanting to see property taxes over $ 3K”. And sure enough that’s where we are ? And guess what, quality of life is worse for that growth. Roads aren’t repaved they’re micro-resurfaced (reality of cracks & potholes filled ?), even the Government cuts corners on delivering services. That’s just the way the human race rolls in the USA.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Eliminate them for retirees 70 & over
LRM says
Add to that, an income cap and value of home cap.
Laurel says
The US government DOGE has been disassembled because it did not work. Of course, now, we have the mess here in Florida. I am glad, however, that local Republican leaders are starting to step up. Let’s see what they do about it.
Louis says
It’s a very bad idea. Local government will be negatively affected. So will school districts. The state will not want to fully fund local governments and it’s another bad idea to be reliant upon the state. Just very bad planning.
AJ says
The extra taxes are not going to teachers anyway. It’s time to revamp the entire system. Local governments aren’t meant to be comprised of millionaires either. Stop boot licking.
Luis says
No more taxes! people need to learn how to grow how to cultivate and how to sustain themselves rather than depending on the government and having everybody else pay for free services that nobody else is willing to work for only the taxpayers paying for it and the homesteaders are the ones who are being suffered by paying property taxes by paying a house that is already paid for in full meanwhile all these people working for governments are living extremely very well and comfortable meanwhile the rest of the taxpayers are suffering barely able to make ends meet meanwhile some households are working two to three jobs and have no time for their families it is time for people to get their stuff together and stop depending on others we need to go back to the bartering system where if you don’t produce you do not survive so I am very happy with what the desantis doing and abolishing property taxes for those who homestead we pay all these politicians salaries for them to basically trample upon our rights they’re not looking to make our life better using money as a short Force as to why they can trample on everybody’s rights meanwhile they giving that extra money to their friends and families the only people who should be help are the elderly the disabled those who are unable to physically sustain themselves! It is time to stop brainwashing these kids and start teaching them something that will be of value out in the real life! We need to do like China does teach their kids how to make things build things at a very early age so that we don’t run into these type of problems instead these politicians allow for foreign governments to brainwash our kids into having no real life skills and having nothing but emotional problems there is way too much entertainment and not enough production going on now this is the real war against these kids and the people by eliminating their skills and eliminating for them to become self dependent and have great ideas for the nation and for people alike stay with teaching kids to have me to the slotters by teaching them that there not comfort enough to be who they are in their gender the war on the young people and these kids needs to stop and it stops by eliminating these type of taxes this also helps the youth by allowing them to secure their parents properties and giving them a chance to Make a better living of themselves if they choose to really thrive if they choose not to drive then their homes will fall apart they will have no life skills and they will be forced to learn and get out there with the real people rather than keeping them home locked up away from the world not being able to even socialize with others this becomes a big problem in society and a non-productive issue which is a major issue that we are all facing in the moment and we have been facing it for almost 25 years!
Tired old woman says
You do realize that property taxes pay for roads, being paved or dirt roads being graded it takes care of mowing the grass and cleaning the swales. He pays for police and fire services and yes, part of it does pay for the county school board so just how do you expect people to put out fires at their house when they have a lightning strike cause I don’t think you have enough water, pressure or a big enough fire extinguisher for that And I guess you won’t mind breaking your suspension or blowing a tire when they quit fixing the roads I wish people understood that property taxes at the county level don’t pay for welfare. Don’t pay for food stamps. That’s your income tax that pays for those services your federal taxes. This is what’s wrong with people. Nobody paid attention in school and nobody has tried to educate themselves about anything important since the graduated. They just want to yell and scream and be heard and most of the time they sound stupid as hell.
Joyce says
This is the worst idea that has come down the pike. What is our government thinking. Ridiculous.
Linda says
The first thing I thought was… if the Billionaires do not have to pay their fair share of income taxes and will not have to pay taxes on any of their multi-million dollar homes or any of their investment properties, what will they pay for ?? It won’t be for our needed improvements on aging infrastructure such as old bridges, roads, the expanding need of Teachers, Schools, Fire departments, Police and Sheriff, or State Troopers. Again, what will they pay except sales tax? Just another dim witted idea posed as a savings to the average person.
Palm Coast Citizen says
My concern mirrors what Brandes said: eliminating property taxes would turn local governments into state-dependent entities. And once that happens, communities lose the ability to remain distinct, responsive, and functional.
People in Palm Coast proved this recently with the commercial-vehicle debate. Residents care deeply about the “flavor” of their community. The look, the feel, the parks, trees, setbacks, codes, and design standards—all of that takes staff, planners, enforcement officers, software, and daily operational capacity. None of it exists on goodwill alone. It exists because local governments have a stable, predictable revenue source that lets them plan and uphold the qualities their residents value.
If you remove that funding without a fully developed, reliable replacement model, the result is not innovation. It is homogenization. Cities and counties become dependent on Tallahassee to keep the lights on. They lose the bandwidth to enforce their own codes or invest in infrastructure that makes each place unique. Planning becomes reactive. Parks age. Roads decline. Local design standards flatten because no one can afford to enforce them.
In the end, you’re left with communities defined by whatever the state budget allows that year—older roads, basic services, and the bare minimum of local planning. That model strips residents of meaningful input and erases the very qualities that make Florida’s cities and counties different from one another.
Local autonomy requires local revenue. Otherwise, independence becomes symbolic rather than real.
Alberto says
When you call the ambulance and the fireman, does not matter you pay in your home tax, they send you a bill. Yes, no more home taxes.
Mark Sarasota says
Government has forgotten that they work for us! You were asked to Stop the ridiculous spending. You refused. Now you will have NO choice!
The dude says
The young will suffer most because the olds will vote to keep their free stuff funded before they’ll vote to fund anything for the kids. They always do.
Bob says
At nearly 80, I have supported and voted for every tax increase that benefited education or our general welfare. We are not all social ideots just because we are old. Your statement was ageist and judgmental before the fact. But at its core, it reflects the general refusal to accept the uncomfortable implications of the many probability distributions that shape humanity.
Frank says
I would be that you’re on a tax funded retirement pension!
Laurel says
I bet you enjoy tax funded education for yourself and your kids.
Put on your maga hats and move along.
Laurel says
By the way, I paid heavily into my government pension, but ignore that and be happy with your bigotry.
Tired old woman says
Wrong I don’t know what in the hell happened to people and why they hate old people. Everybody calls us boomers but you know what we didn’t have luxury items we struggled and did without for a long time we bought our houses and we didn’t buy luxury items or go on luxury vacations young people want to do that they have $2000 phones and $2000 gaming systems and $200 shoes and tattoos and piercings that cost thousands of dollars they only wanna work part-time and they wanna make $30 an hour and they barely wanna show up and when they are there, they barely wanna do the job And then they wonder why they can’t buy a house it’s not our fault and I have no problem paying taxes to help educate people. I have no problem with my federal taxes helping people go to college or with childcare or Medicaid or food stamps but I’ve also worked since I was 16 and I don’t make it a point to go out and get drunk on Friday and Saturday and expect somebody to feel sorry for me and give me a weeks worth of groceries at the food bank every week
Brandon says
I agree on most of the things you said but Boomers also didn’t have to pay $250k for a postage stamp house. You also didn’t have to pay $35k for a Toyota Corrola. So yes, many spend their money unwisely but the system is now almost impossible to live in which is why many are still living at home. I also shouldn’t have to pay $400 a month in taxes to the City of Sunrise when my wife and I have no kids.
Hack says
Brandon you do realize that just because your grandparents may have bought their first home for say $20,000 back in the 50s but that $20,000 in todays money is almost $300,000 today and minimum wage in the 50s was more like 75 cents. What can you buy now for 75 cents heck cant even buy a pack of gum. When I was a kid in the 90s you could at least get 5 sticks of gum for 25 cents, not anymore, heck you can’t even buy those little packs anymore.
Laurel says
Brando: I have no kids either, but paid taxes for education my whole adult life, and paid my own way for everything else, including my college.
And, you’re right, a car was cheaper, but we made $3.00 an hour! How would you handle that? My first house had two bedrooms, one bath, a Florida room, no garage or carport or pool. Young people today want the same house their parents worked all their lives for, NOW. It’s all relative. If I want to buy a new home today, I would have to pay the same amount as you, but with a fixed income based on the lower salary rate I made in the past. You don’t think about that, do you?
The reason young people hate old people today, is the same reason whites hate blacks and blacks hate whites. The same reason men hate women, and everyone hates LBGTQ, and so on. We are, as Americans, being intentionally divided.
So, give ’em a maga hat for ignoring facts and move on.
Boomers destroyed everything says
Baby boomers destroyed the environment and ran up the most debt in our nation’s history so they could live like kings while their descendants will be impoverished.. boomers are the worst generation ever!
Laurel says
Put on your maga hats, grab your tiki “The Jews won’t replace us” torches and wonder off.
You don’t have a clue about what you say, and you don’t want to know either, that’s clear.
Trump: “I love the poorly educated.”
Laurel says
BTW, destroyed, we were called “tree huggers”. My boss would bellow out, at city hall, “Where’s my tree hugger?” He could be heard throughout the building.
I spent twenty years of my career at educating people about pollution, and working at cleaning up our waters. What have you done, besides gripe about what you don’t know about? Exactly, what have you done? What are you doing to improve the situation?
It’s your watch now, and the millennials watch. What are y’all doing?
Get off that brain drain social media. It’s not flattering to you.
Michael says
The real estate tax system need to be revamped. I don’t think taxes should be eliminated completely, but I do believe neighborhood caps should be put in place. I also think we can consider moving to a flat rate tax. Why should I pay 3-4 times (if not more) what my neighbor pays for the same size house in the same neighborhood? Just because I bought it at a higher price? Doesn’t really seem fair. Especially for people buying at today’s prices. This also forces people, who have lived in their home many years, to stay in their current homes because if they sell to downsize, their tax liability goes up for a smaller cheaper property.
Pogo says
Laurel says
Pogo: Bingo!
How is it these kids are so clueless?
Whiners, not doers.
Yeah, you and I made $200,000.00 a year, on 20 hour work weeks, when we went, and paid $500 for a new, luxury car. Then, when we retired, everything was handed to us free, and our kids won’t inherit anything from us.
Also, we polluted the planet, not the big corporations that are, again, rolling back regulations. The gen Zers and millennials don’t participate, they live with zero waste. No plastics, no pesticides, no batteries, no harm to the planet whatsoever. Completely gouit free.
Sucks, don’t it?
Like “Tired Old Woman” wrote, what happened? Why are these young people so ignorant of reality and history?
PKS says
You will still be paying for School, water district, Fire & ambulance and them charges just not YOUR property
Joe D says
Exactly HOW do you think, are School, district repairs, Police, Fire and Ambulance charges going to get PAID under this new “system?”
Yes, your Water bill is DIRECTLY billed by gallons used, but since there are no STATE income taxes in Florida, EVERYTHING ELSE (Schools/Police/Fire/Ambulance/Roads maintenance / County salaries, ) comes MOSTLY out of PROPERTY TAXES, and some with a PORTION of sales taxes. Unless you just want the County and towns to just let things fall apart without Repairs?
Al says
They run for office claiming they can do the job. The job gets tough then the excuses start. You took the job now do what your paid for, figure it out. Anyone given 10,000 can pay a 1,000 bill. Given 900 to pay that same bill takes real effort. Time to cut all the waste, travel, parties, festivals that make little sense.
As a business owner you have to plan and budget tightly. As a politician you just do what you want then raise taxes, that is what needs to stop.
In Orlando a soccer team said if you don’t build us a stadium were outta here. The people said no so the team said okay we’ll build with our own money. That should have been their first choice not the taxpayers pockets.
Me says
Something smells dirty.
Ed P says
These proposals/ideas for providing property tax relief for homesteaded homeowners excludes the tax portions specifically for school budgets and emergency services. Non ad-valorem fees also remain.
It is being misrepresented as an elimination of property taxes which would be an impossible task.
It is suggested to be slowly implemented over a period of time, maybe 10 years. Tax relief could hinge upon homesteaded household incomes, home values, and even age. Similar to the incremental homestead allowances currently in effect.
Missing from discussions is where the replacement funds would magically appear.
Everyone wants more for less, but once reality delivers the gut punch, this will quite possibly be a watered down concept benefiting a small percentage of homeowners struggling to survive on poverty level retirement incomes.
More smoke, mirrors and illusions. Don’t count the chickens yet, that smell is rotten eggs.
Endless dark money says
When you all gonna learn to quit voting for republican terror. They have no ideas only ways to enrich the very few at the cost of the many.
Brandon says
Yeah, its not like the democrats simply give everything to the voters to stay elected or anything? Free busses, Healthcare, housing, etc! I’m so sick of our money being used to pay for trans plays in Singapore or condoms in Africa. But sure, keep voting dem and blowing our kids futures.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
Wow that Faux News Channel is strong on Brandon.
Duke says
Like the defund public education this is defund local governments lol. RCONS are busy making billions gutting democracy.
PaulT says
Another brilliant Ron DeSantis idea! I guess he no longer needs our taxes to pay for frivolous immigrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard or to build detention centers for the undocumented. I wonder, who the lobbyists are on this one, their ‘donations’ persuade DeSantis and will no doubt persuade the GOP supermajority in the legislature to vote for this nonsense.
Since nothing in life is free, we will still have to fork out for the services currently included in the ‘property tax basket’. Then the long term home owners, often the elderly on fixes incomes, will feel sticker shock when faced with the full price of county services. At the moment we effectively get a discount, taxes are levied on assessed property value which are in many cases lower than market because we’re protected from inflation, (5% cap on annual increase in property valuation).
This levelling up is bad news for some of us but maybe we’ll be allowed opt outs?
-No kids in school? opt out of school district tax.
-House hasn’t been burgled or caught fire in 20 years? opt out of sheriff and fire department tax.
-Don’t mind mosquitos ? Don’t live anywhere near St Johns River. Not pauing those.
-And I really don’t use parks or swimming pools, why should I pay for them?
Ron’s supposed objective, to protect us all from state ownership has a simple answer, without creating total chaos. Remove the right of county tax collectors to put a lien on properties where taxes aren’t paid on time. Make non payment a civil offense and take defaulters to court then garnish their wages or cocial security or bank accounts.
But leave our property tax system alone.
Dee says
Guess no one listened to DeSantis’ speech. He said it would be left up to each county to determine despite it being put to vote. I do agree to abolish real estate taxes, especially for seniors over 65 since they are on a limited income no longer working.
Atwp says
The fiscally constrained counties tend to be red. I just love that. People continue to vote red. Getting rid of property taxes sounds great, the red politicians don’t know how to handle money. Look at the school voucher mess. The red politicians are in control of the program look at that big mess. Desantis saying that the state will help the counties if the property taxes are eliminated, you all believe that if you want to. Any time red politicians say they will help with finances don’t believe that lie. We will see what happens.
David says
Something needs to be done. I don’t favor it 100% but I do favor some sort of relief.
There is a lot of waste by the counties, corruption and they don’t care because the money simply keeps flowing in. I believe there is an unfair tax base.
I shouldn’t be paying $20,000 in property taxes for a single family house when my neighbor pays $8,000. If the fire dept came to my house or a police office there are going to send the same ones. I don’t get 5 extra officers for paying more taxes.
David says
The county abuse the system. I can’t add a swimming pool or a fence because now they want an extra $1500 added to my taxes. I pay for it, I pull a permit and for the luxury of adding an improvement they want to continue to nickel and dime. You know what on 2nd thought eliminate them. I’m for it.
Skibum says
The idiot in the WH has repeatedly threatened to stop sending federal funds to states and local governments he doesn’t like. It is easy for him to say such things because doing so doesn’t negatively impact HIM as it does those he threatens.
Govie mini maga thinks this is another way to ingratiate himself back into drumph’s favor by floating this latest tax take away. It is easy for him to favor this brainiac scheme because it doesn’t negatively impact state coffers – it only decimates critical sources of revenue from counties that go toward essential services. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the counties that would be severely hurt or the people who could die due to essential services like police and fire being undercut or completely unfunded.
There are also quality of life issues that would be at risk if local counties are unable to fund things like libraries, public parks and playgrounds, trash pickup, etc. etc. etc.
Do people really want to live like they were back in the depression years where eveyone was on their own to try and figure out how to survive without services being provided??? One commenter above said families should start being more resourceful and learning how to plow and grow their own food so they could be self-sustaining without relying on government services. Really?!?!?! Just look at the poorest areas in the nation, with ramshackle, crumbling houses, undrinkable water, no sewers, unpaved roads, filthy dirt streets with potholes that become muddy when it rains, no doctors, no hospitals or businesses because no company owner in their right minds want to locate there, etc. But hey, NO TAXES! Wow, what a tax haven, a Shangri-La, huh? Hell no!
Wake up, people, before it is too late! The very important essential and quality of life services we usually take for granted would be at risk if voters or counties decided to undue the property tax structure that supports local governments! It would be like cutting of your nose to spite your face.
Just saying says
Flagler county already has property tax relief. Just check the website to see if you qualify. If you think you qualify go to the offices and apply.
Jane Gentile Youd says
Just look at the outrageous salary of $208,000 you are paying to Heidi Petito, Flagler County’s incompetent county administrator awarded herself and the salary she pays her non pilot flight school obsessed Airport Manager from YOUR money. How many of us, without a skill or college degree get this kind of money with FULL medical benefits and FULL retirement? Huh? How many of us?
We need government services run by qualified non elected professionals. Our Sheriff gets $61 million from unincorporated Flagler County not counting Palm Coast, hi drug profits etc…. Sickening. 3 people in Legal getting $550,000 in addition to $110,000 outside legal fees for their bullcrap. Code enforcement is a joke – $2,000 collected in fines but $100,000 paid to chief code enforcement official…. This is only for real in Flagler County, no place else.
I don’t believe in eliminating property taxes for well run government agencies but Flagler County administration should not get one damn dime of our money directly. Insults not intended for Tax Collector,, Property Appraiser, Building Director, Clerk of Court and hard working, underpaid employees.
It will be interesting to see what the final decision is in Tallahassee. I usually disagree with De Santis but he is right when he alleges the waste of taxpayer dollars made by many local Florida municipalities like unincorporated Flagler.. I am sure it will be the same old same old until we the people say ‘enough is enough’
Celilo says
The proposed changes are just that, a change. Change of the hardest things for most humans.
Small counties also have smaller needs. Their population is smaller, their infrastructure is smaller, ETC. this doesn’t mean that the change is right or wrong, it only means that the impact of such changes need to be considered.
The fact is that property taxes have heard the lowest income people for a long time. The only reason we have wealthy coastal communities is because property taxes pushed a lower income and predominantly minority population out of those areas.
Whatever the solution, it’s clear that the biggest problem with curtailing property taxes is that it didn’t happen 50 years ago.
Ray W. says
This from a Newsweek article titled “Florida house price warning Issued over plan to eliminate property taxes”
Here are some bullet points from the story:
– “Eliminating property taxes in Florida would require a constitutional amendment backed by 60 percent of voters.”
– “In the years following the start of the pandemic, property taxes rose all across the country in response to a surge in home values, together with home prices, borrowing costs, and homeowners’ insurance premiums. The result is the current housing affordability crisis that is plaguing the nation.”
– Realtor.com released an economic analysis should Florida completely eliminate property taxes: Home prices would immediately jump by “about 7 percent to 9 percent.”
– Realty.com experts say that eliminating property taxes would increase aggregate home values by between $200 and $250 billion, but harm future first time buyers.”
– Some homeowners would welcome the eliminating of property taxes, particularly those who bought homes at the height of the pandemic, but not all homeowners would welcome the change.
– Dr. Esteban Leonardo Santis, director of research for the Florida Policy Institute, told the reporter that “Florida ‘cannot afford to’ eliminate property taxes, and would likely need to increase the sales tax to make up for lost revenues. … So the question right now is who is going to pay for it? A lot of the conversation, some of the conversation has been, can the local governments pay for it? But ultimately, if you’re talking about a full elimination, … you’re looking at either increasing the sales tax through percentages or having to find other ways, whether it’s increased fees at the local level, new taxes at the local level, or really service cuts.”
– According to Ken Johnson, a housing economist and the Christie Kirkland Walker chair of real estate at the University of Mississippi:
“As long as we are in a prosperous economic time, not in a recession, all of this is going to work fine. The risk that Florida is exposed to is that once we hit a recession, we’re probably going to see an excess supply of homes go to the market.
– Should a national recession come to be, Johnson said, with 10% of Florida’s housing stock being vacation homes, sales of these second homes could glut the market. A “black swan” event hits the state and average housing prices will drop. Tourism dollars will drop. Taxes derived from out-of-state homeowners with either second homes or short-term rentals will drop. “A major U.S. recession could crash Florida housing and, at the same time, dry up the Florida budget.”
– Said former Republican state senator Jeff Brandes, now president of the Florida Policy Project, in the reporter’s words:
“[T]he idea of eliminating property taxes is not a real policy but a ‘bumper sticker’ for the governor, who likely wants to use it to jump-start his campaign for the 2028 presidential election.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
If Floridians have to put a constitutional amendment to a statewide direct democratic vote, then our form of government is not solely republican, despite what so many FlaglerLive readers claim; it is a liberal democratic Constitutional republic form of government.
And, I am not arguing what is best, less good, or bad, or even worse.
In my lifetime, I have seen 10 recessions come and go. The idea that we can’t have a recession in the near future, despite what Dennis C. Rathsam says about his imagined glorious Trump future, unsettles me.
According to the FlaglerLive story, Florida alone has a $117 billion state budget, yet some argue that a significant budget deficit in the state budget beckons in just a few years.
I have no idea what the combined county and municipal budgets all across the state are for the current fiscal year, but the idea that all county and local governments are fully funded against future needs seems absurd to me.
Celilo says
“– “In the years following the start of the pandemic, property taxes rose all across the country in response to a surge in home values, together with home prices, borrowing costs, and homeowners’ insurance premiums. The result is the current housing affordability crisis that is plaguing the nation.””
Here in lies one of the biggest problems. Increases in housing value are unrelated to the need for counties to increase spending, yet they spend every dollar that they can get their grubby hands on.
Property tax rates should immediately decline in conjunction with rising home values.