JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Property tax elimination proposals have become one of the most closely watched debates of the 2026 legislative session, as lawmakers advance several constitutional amendment measures that could dramatically reshape how homeowners are taxed \u2014 and how cities fund essential services.<\/p>\n
The proposals under consideration in Tallahassee could significantly reduce or even eliminate property taxes, a major source of revenue for local governments across Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the number one source of revenue for municipalities around the state, and the number one revenue for counties \u2014 all 67 counties,\u201d Rick Mullaney, News4JAX political analyst, said.<\/p>\n
PREVIOUS STORIES | Gov. DeSantis details proposal to eliminate Florida property taxes; Jacksonville councilmembers divided<\/a> | Eliminating Florida property taxes could spike home prices 9% and deepen affordability crisis, experts warn<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Duval County alone, property taxes account for at least $1 billion of the county\u2019s roughly $2 billion budget. That revenue funds core services such as schools, police and fire protection.<\/p>\n Lawmakers are currently considering at least eight proposals that would reduce or potentially eliminate property taxes, but Mullaney cautioned that any change would require a clear plan to replace that funding.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has to be an equal discussion on how to replace that revenue,\u201d Mullaney said. \u201cThere is no free lunch. You have to pay for those services. In Florida, you don\u2019t have an income tax, so you have to ask the question: How do you pay for fundamental services?\u201d<\/p>\n As the debate continues, several Jacksonville City Council members have gone on the record with their positions.<\/p>\n Councilmembers\u2019 Responses to Proposal: <\/p>\n Tyrona Clark-Murray\/Council Member District 9<\/p>\n \u201cThe elimination of property taxes would be detrimental to local governments, not just in Jacksonville, but all throughout the state of Florida. Property taxes pay for several City services. Mainly in the form of fire and police, and roads. The elimination of property taxes seems like a win individually, saving the average household hundreds, but if Floridians look at the total collectively, which would amount to millions of dollars, it will be extremely detrimental to our city. Most homeowners rather pay their \u201cfair share\u201d than cut services. State legislators need to explore a different avenue if they want to reduce household costs, not property taxes. The elimination of property taxes is the wrong road to travel in order to find cost savings for individual property taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Howland \/At Large District 3<\/p>\n \u201cHousing costs continue to rise. Young couples are struggling to buy their first home, and some families are struggling to stay in their current homes. I support the state\u2019s efforts to explore meaningful property tax relief or Florida families and will be monitoring the discussion closely during the legislative session.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think with inflation, cost of goods increasing, the cost of necessary items for everyday life is becoming attainable. Any tax relief would be a blessing. We still have real life expenses, but we need to know how we will fund municipal funds. I\u2019m for it, but I don\u2019t want to do a disservice to this community because there\u2019s not enough tax revenue. Highly support it, but we need a strategic plan of action to fund our critical needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Rahman Johnson\/District 14 <\/p>\n \u201cA tax cut that guts schools and raises your grocery bills is not a tax cut. It is an illusion. Property taxes are the engine of local government in Florida. They fund more than half of all school district budgets, nearly one fifty of county operations, and a similar share. If someone promises you a tax cut that they say will cost nothing, check your pockets. They are probably already in them. Floridians deserve tax relief grounded in math, not messaging.\u201d <\/p>\n Terrence Freeman\/At Large Group 1<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I served as Council President, I championed Jacksonville\u2019s first property tax cut in more than a decade. With government spending growing too fast, taxpayers deserve meaningful relief. I support continuing to cut property taxes and working toward eliminating them entirely for homeowners in the years ahead.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI always support lowering taxes and reducing wasteful government spending. I am interested in seeing the full plan for eliminating property taxes and the new funding sources for our essential services.\u201d <\/p>\n Ju \u2019Coby Pittman\/District 10<\/p>\n \u201cIf we eliminate property taxes, we eliminate the ability to take care of the city. Concerned about parks and security. Districts 7,8,9,10, unfortunately, there are already a lot of disparities. Property taxes are helping to fix some of those issues. I think it would be a tragedy if property taxes are eliminated.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Howland\/Vice President<\/p>\n \u201cHousing costs continue to rise. Young couples are struggling to buy their first homes and families are struggling to stay in their current homes. I support the State\u2019s efforts to explore meaningful property tax relief for Florida families and will be monitoring the discussion closely during this legislative session.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want to study it more. It\u2019s an issue that\u2019s definitely on the radar. It has to be proven to me that public safety will not be affected and fully funded.\u201d <\/p>\n Michael Boylan\/District 6 <\/p>\n \u201cThe ramifications of Tallahassee dictating how we spend our money is concerning. I\u2019d love to see what lawmakers see as a recourse to maintain services, fire and safety, police. They are all necessary services and impacting the amount of revenue is problematic unless they give us an alternative\/directly impact our ability.\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin Carrico\/Council President<\/p>\n \u201cI applaud Gov. DeSantis for his leadership and for putting forward bold ideas that give property owners the relief they deserve. Here in Jacksonville, I led the effort to provide meaningful property tax relief in this year\u2019s budget, but there\u2019s more work to do. We must continue eliminating waste, improving efficiency, and identifying responsible ways to cut taxes so families can afford to live and thrive in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m honestly in favor of a homestead exemption that benefits our working families. This would likely mean an additional $50-100k exemption, and reform how much property value can be increased per year. So let\u2019s do that. However, to eliminate the property tax entirely is far too harmful to any local government. The longterm effects this will have on supporting our neighbors and communities is just too great. Furthermore, cutting the tax entirely is a giveaway to the wealthiest homeowners who live on the river or ocean, and under this proposal, they wouldn\u2019t have to pay anything. That isn\u2019t fair to those working-class and middle-class residents who now would have to shoulder the cost of paying for police, hospitals, fire stations, and amenities people expect. As elected leaders, we have a responsibility to our voters to ensure public safety is funded, but so are our parks, roads, and services for children.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilman Matt Carlucci\/At Large<\/p>\n \u201cTallahassee can chant \u2018tax cuts\u2019 because they don\u2019t have to cut public safety, close the libraries, delay the road repairs, or reduce neighborhood services. We do. If you cut property taxes, you either raise fees or cut services would make them there\u2019s no magic money. Show the plan, or stop pretending there\u2019s no consequence.\u201d<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Property tax elimination proposals have become one of the most closely watched debates of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28,116,118,117,99,17565],"class_list":["post-124243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-politics","tag-property-tax-reform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124243","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=124243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}