{"id":234735,"date":"2026-04-16T20:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/234735\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T20:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:51:11","slug":"southwest-florida-leaders-skeptical-if-property-tax-cut-makes-statewide-ballot-or-if-it-can-pass-from-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/234735\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Florida leaders skeptical if property tax cut makes statewide ballot, or if it can pass from there"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida lawmakers have yet to approve language for a major property tax reduction to appear on the statewide ballot. But speakers on a Florida TaxWatch<\/a> panel expressed some skepticism about what might pass.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t want to see spending cuts in local government. As the panel went over some House-proposed options<\/a>, some elected officials questioned how the public would digest them even if they passed in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any of those are ultimately going to pass,\u201d said Lee County Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell, himself a former Representative.<\/p>\n

Panelists weren\u2019t necessarily opposed to a cut in property millage rates across the board. But while many expect tax cuts to be an easy sell, former Rep. Bob Rommel said that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s truly amazing. In the time that I\u2019ve been in Florida, every single time there\u2019s a penny tax or half-tax, it\u2019s passed. Not once has a tax decrease on the ballot passed in 24 years that I\u2019ve been here. Not once,\u201d the Naples Republican said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all hear the news, or whatever source, it\u2019s always about taxes. But if you say, oh my gosh, it\u2019s a penny because we\u2019re going to have beautiful roads or rainbows or whatever it is, it passes. But when seniors literally can\u2019t afford to stay in their home, it fails. Listen. It\u2019s beyond logic. It\u2019s just what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurt Wenner, Florida TaxWatch\u2019s Senior Vice President of Research, suggested part of the reason is that it would be a big, immediate hit to revenues and the resources available for government services. He has suggested a phasing out of taxes might be more palatable.<\/p>\n

But he also suggested that many governments could simply find a way to make back revenue through other fees and assessments unless the Legislature coupled eliminating property taxes with restrictions on spending.<\/p>\n

Brandi Gunder, a Florida TaxWatch Senior Vice President who moderated the panel, asked if governments would need to make back 100% of the revenue.<\/p>\n

Caldwell said probably not, \u201cbut the devil\u2019s in the details in terms of who gets to make the choices of which revenue gets covered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wenner suggested that ultimately, many voters could expect all revenues to be made up with fresh funding mechanisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can leave it up to the local governments, and without any other changes, it\u2019ll happen over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Caldwell noted that even though there\u2019s some doubt that anything will pass this year, there may also be a political consequence for abandoning an effort to change Florida\u2019s property tax system at this point as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you talk about this for two years straight and don\u2019t put something on?\u201d he said. \u201cThat is almost as damaging. But you know what? Who does it damage? The Governor\u2019s term-limited, so he\u2019s not actually on the ballot. And if that dissatisfaction for the voters gets diffused to the point it doesn\u2019t directly impact any legislator. Occam\u2019s razor tells me we don\u2019t actually get the initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida lawmakers have yet to approve language for a major property tax reduction to appear on the statewide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[104711,28,30,29,80195,104712,46420,104713],"class_list":{"0":"post-234735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-bob-rommel","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-florida-taxwatch","13":"tag-kurt-wenner","14":"tag-matt-caldwell","15":"tag-properety-tax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234735","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=234735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}