PENSACOLA, Fla. — Florida lawmakers are gearing up for a contentious debate over property tax reform.
Thursday, Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins told WEAR News he opposes the recent swell of proposals in the legislature trying to tackle the issue.
Collins says voters need just one constitutional amendment on the ballot to decide. The legislature isn’t seeing eye to eye right now, though most feel it’s a strong possibility.
Right now, eight proposals in the legislature offer ways for homesteaded property owners to eliminate a significant portion of their property taxes by 2026.
Most are designed to appear on the 2026 ballot as constitutional amendments. Collins opposes the amendments. He says the issue should come down to one choice for voters.
WEAR: “We’ve reported on these recent proposals and the last few months has been discussion throughout the year on reducing property taxes, completely eliminating property taxes. What is the real likelihood for Floridians in your mind?Collins: “Well, I think it’s a great opportunity. We should absolutely embrace it but just like the highlander, there can only be one and it has to go on the ballot. So I know that the House has multiple variations out there. I know that the senator is filing those to match. You can’t have all of those things the same time, it’s gonna confuse the ballot. It takes millions and millions of dollars to fully inform people about what’s going on. There’s almost zero shot. If you get five to nine of those out there on the ballot, people are gonna truly understand or pass one specific thing.”
The idea of completely eliminating property taxes draws concern mainly over funding for law enforcement and education. Collins and other lawmakers in Tallahassee insist that law enforcement and school taxes won’t be reduced.
“I can speak for myself and I know where the governor’s mind is on this as well,” Collins said. “We’re not gonna harm our educators. We’re not gonna harm our roads. We’re not gonna take money away from our first responders or law enforcement. Nobody’s gonna do that. It’s a de minimis amount of money in terms of our overall budget and the property tax dollars.”
WEAR News was told the House, Senate and governor’s office all have their own ideas for tackling the problem. The station asked Senator Don Gaetz if he thinks school funding will be safe under a significant tax reduction.
“I think there will be an evaluation of a lot of things, including how we finance schools,” said Gaetz. “The school finance system is in the difficulty right now anyway because we have thousands and thousands of students leaving public schools. They go to private schools and go to homeschooling now, and that’s affecting the whole way that we finance public schools. Everything is up for grabs.”
Governor DeSantis addressed the issue Wednesday speaking to a crowd in Tampa. The governor dismissed the proposals as uninspiring, insisting the legislature have only one amendment for property taxes on the 2026 ballot.