by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continued his full-fledged campaign on Friday to get the Florida Legislature to back his idea of providing immediate targeted property tax relief this year to Floridians, and for lawmakers to jettison their proposed sales tax cut.
Speaking in Tampa earlier this week, the governor declared that any tax package sent to his desk that features a sales tax component would be “dead on arrival.” That comment has now led to an apparent breakdown between legislative leaders in trying to come together on the state budget, which forced them late last week to extend the legislative session into June.
DeSantis and Hernando County Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia said in Tampa this week that they have encountered very few members of the public who say they’d rather have a cut in the sales tax vs. property taxes, and a public opinion survey of Floridians released on Friday seems to back up the anecdotal evidence.
In the survey of 1,200 Floridians taken in April for the James Madison Institute, 46% said they support eliminating property taxes, while 32% supported reducing sales taxes. Another 12% said they preferred keeping things status quo.
When asked whether they support eliminating property taxes by expanding the homestead exemption for primary residents, 65% said yes, while just 24% opposed that proposal. Another 11% were unsure.
However, following that question up, 60% said that they were concerned about how the elimination of property taxes would affect potential cuts to local services, such as law enforcement and public schools. Only 33% of voters said that they were not concerned about that outcome.
If policymakers want to eliminate property taxes, they would need to raise $43 billion (or $2,015 per Floridian) to maintain public services now funded with property tax revenue, the Florida Policy Institute recently wrote in a report titled “A Risky Proposition.”
House Speaker Daniel Perez said last week that because the Florida Constitution prohibits the Legislature from exercising direct control over property taxes, any such reform would need to go before the voters on the November 2026 ballot. That’s why, he said, there is a need for his Select Committee on Property Taxes to study the issue.
The 37 lawmakers on the committee will prepare a Joint Resolution by this fall to allow lawmakers to put the question on the ballot next year. It would require 60% support to pass.
DeSantis has said that the committee has been set up to fail, noting that Perez appointed several “far-left Democrats” who the governor predicts will end up voting against such a proposal.
The James Madison Institute survey was conducted by Targoz Market Research of 1,200 voters, 43% of whom said they were Republicans, 33% Democrats, and 23% independent voters. It has a +/- margin of error of 2.77%.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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