TALLAHASSEE, Fla.\u00a0\u2014 Property taxes are emerging as one of the most closely watched issues of Florida\u2019s legislative session, as Governor Ron DeSantis\u00a0pushes lawmakers to pursue what he calls \u201ctransformational relief\u201d for homeowners.<\/p>\n
During his State of the State address, DeSantis argued that rising property tax bills are pricing Floridians out of the housing market \u2014 even those who already own homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have residents that are locked into their homes because they can’t afford the taxes on a new residence,” DeSantis said. Others have been priced out of the market entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor said local governments collected about $32 billion in property taxes seven years ago, compared to $56 billion last year, and urged lawmakers to act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legislature has the ability to place a measure on the ballot to provide transformational relief for taxpayers,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be able to own your home without paying perpetual rent to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
State Rep. Mike Giallombardo\u00a0said there is broad agreement among lawmakers that homeowners need relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody is in agreement that we need to reduce property taxes for homestead,\u201d Giallombardo said. \u201cI think how much of that we have to take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he warned that eliminating property taxes outright is far more complicated than it sounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cEighty percent of property taxes are currently paid for police and fire,\u201d Giallombardo said.<\/p>\n
Property taxes also help fund schools, raising concerns about how local governments would replace that revenue if taxes are cut too deeply.<\/p>\n
While DeSantis has floated the idea of raising sales taxes, Giallombardo said that approach could hit families in everyday spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the sales tax coming in is from retail our Walmart, our Targets, the stores that we all shop at every day, and our Publix, and car sales,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also warned local governments could turn to new fees if property tax revenue disappears.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are seeing local governments trying to figure out how to tack on new fees,\u201d Giallombardo said. \u201cThose fees\u2026 go into general revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than full elimination, lawmakers are weighing multiple options, including raising the homestead exemption or cutting property taxes for primary residences. Giallombardo said the House has already narrowed its focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a number of proposals that the House has provided,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
UCF political scientist Aubrey Jewett\u00a0said the push for property tax relief is driven by both affordability and politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cAffordability is probably the biggest issue in minds of voters,\u201d Jewett said. \u201cBut beyond that, I think there’s a political aspect to this as well, because Governor DeSantis is term limited out. He’s in his last year as governor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jewett said a major win on property taxes could become a defining part of DeSantis\u2019 legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would like to end his last term with a really big policy and political victory,\u201d Jewett said. \u201cHe\u2019d like to be able to say, \u2018I was the governor\u2026 the first governor in the United States to eliminate property taxes for homeowners.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Because property taxes are established in Florida\u2019s Constitution, major changes would require voter approval,\u00a0 a step Jewett expects lawmakers to take.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legislature will come up with a proposal that will be on the ballot,\u201d he said. \u201cFloridians will get to vote on this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeSantis has already called one special session this year, raising the possibility lawmakers could be called back again if property tax negotiations stall during the regular session.<\/p>\n
WINK News will keep you updated.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla.\u00a0\u2014 Property taxes are emerging as one of the most closely watched issues of Florida\u2019s legislative session,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59058,28,30,29,2161,6281,59055,59057,59053,412,232,59056,4571,59054],"class_list":["post-117285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-car-sales","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-government","tag-governor","tag-income-taxes","tag-jobs-and-growth-tax-relief-reconciliation-act","tag-political-terminology","tag-ron-desantis","tag-tallahassee","tag-technology-tax-relief","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-fiscal-cliff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}