TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis is proposing to eliminate property taxes in Florida — a move that could disproportionately harm public schools and give the state more power over local communities.
The idea isn’t new. But in a political climate focused on government efficiency, DeSantis broke with past precedent in saying the $55 billion shortfall that nixing property taxes would create for Florida’s school districts and local governments wouldn’t coincide with a tax increase anywhere else.
“Don’t let anyone tell you we will seek to raise state taxes because we will not,” DeSantis said on March 4 during his State of the State address. “We are and will remain a taxpayer-friendly state.”
The Legislature doesn’t have control over property taxes, which are the domain of local governments. The proposal would have to be put directly to voters through a constitutional amendment, which wouldn’t happen until 2026, at the earliest.
“There will be something that we’ll work on over these next many months (and) look to put it on the next legislative session, not this one,” DeSantis said in a news conference following his address.
A $55 billion shortfall created by eliminating Florida’s property taxes would be difficult to make up, especially in Florida, where there is no income tax. A similar proposal floated 18 years ago would have offset the decline in revenue from property taxes with an increase in sales taxes, a concept that could be studied again. Such a change in tax structure would give the state significant leverage over local communities because most sales taxes go into the state treasury. It would be up to lawmakers to decide how and how much of it to distribute to local governments.
“The property tax is not a perfect tax, but it does provide local autonomy. It helps finance our public schools and other public services,” said Esteban Leonardo Santis, an analyst with the left-leaning Florida Policy Institute, who studied eliminating property taxes in Florida. “We should be looking at ways so that we can offer relief. But I don’t think we should be eliminating it.”
Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Fort Myers Republican, filed a bill directing state economists to study eliminating property taxes, including replacing them with revenue from an increase in sales taxes. Martin said he didn’t coordinate the proposal with the governor’s office but wanted to include options in that study to reduce government spending or supplement the tax cuts in other ways, such as through tariffs.
“There’s this renewed conversation with, let’s look at the status quo and see if it’s worth continuing,” said Martin.
But there’s early concern from Martin’s colleagues regarding how the property tax cuts would impact services Floridians depend on, from fire safety to public schools to police.
Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican, said the bills she’s read for session were in tension — half were about creating additional tax exemptions and half were about needed funding for services.
“We are going to have to look at that, I think, in total, and figure out what’s fiscally responsible,” said Passidomo during a Senate panel discussion on the matter last week.
There’s no income tax in Florida, so most of the state revenue comes from sales and documentary stamp taxes.
The taxes that fund local government are on tangible property and sales. As property values have gone up in Florida, so have taxes paid to local governments and school districts, which in turn have increased spending. Critics argue the spending has gotten out of hand, while services haven’t improved.
In the last fiscal year, property taxes raised $55 billion in revenue for local governments and school districts, doubling over the last decade, according to a March 5 staff presentation to the Florida Senate Committee on Finance and Tax.
Most of that money — $33.7 billion — went to government and social programs like police, firefighters and jails. The rest, $21.5 billion, went to schools.
In his speech on opening day, Senate President Ben Albritton, a Republican from Wauchula, said his chamber would “explore options for Floridians to vote to lower their own property taxes.”
Albritton agrees with the governor’s argument philosophically and is interested in saving money through government efficiency, said a spokeswoman on Friday. But Albritton has concerns about the impact on rural communities, which he is focused on supporting through his theme of a “Rural Renaissance.”
“One of the major components of ‘Rural Renaissance’ is addressing the fact that there’s existing challenges resulting from the low tax base that there is in those counties, which impacts education and public services like law enforcement and emergency response,” said the spokeswoman.
When a state tax expert presented to senators last week on how property taxes are used in Florida, he broke it down into two categories: schools and everything else.
Schools are the biggest beneficiaries from property taxes. Schools would lose at least half their revenue if property taxes were eliminated, according to the Florida Policy Institute analysis.
Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar agreed with the estimate.
“Unless the state stepped up and filled in for that, you’d be looking at a crisis in terms of funding our public schools,” Spar said.
After his State of the State, DeSantis told reporters that one reason he wants to eliminate property taxes is “philosophical.” If you have to pay annual taxes to keep your home, then you don’t really own it, he said.
“Is it private property or not?” DeSantis said.
This argument echoes one made by Marco Rubio, now U.S. secretary of state, back in 2007 when he was speaker of the Florida House. But Rubio’s failed proposal was different. He wanted to swap property taxes for a sales tax. DeSantis, on the other hand, isn’t proposing to replace the taxes with anything else.
But there’s still time. Even if it is viable, DeSantis’ proposal wouldn’t appear in front of voters until 2026.
“People are increasingly frustrated every year by their property tax,” said Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power. “Whether it’s increasing homestead exemption to $100,000 or phasing out property taxes, I think there will be some type of property-tax piece on the next ballot.”
Santis, the analyst with Florida Policy Institute, said there are other options for paying for government programs in Florida beyond property and sales taxes. Those choices include forcing companies to report profits from other states, charging more for taxes on sales of more expensive homes and taxing intangible property like stocks and bonds, which lawmakers did away with in 2006.
“We have the most regressive tax code in the country,” Santis said. “There are things we could be doing, proactive steps that we can take to make our tax credit more equitable, and then offer relief as well.”
Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau reporter Lawrence Mower and Herald reporter Clara-Sophia Daly contributed to this report.
Alexandra Glorioso is a state government reporter for the Miami Herald and is based in Tallahassee.
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