US: Florida Governor Supports To Eliminate Property Tax

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis supported the lawmakers’ proposal to completely eliminate or reduce the property tax for the people of Florida.

In a post on X, the governor said that taxing land or property is a ‘more oppressive and ineffective’ form of taxation.

‘Property taxes are local, not state. So we’d need to do a constitutional amendment (requires 60% of voters to approve) to eliminate them (which I would support) or even to reform/lower them… We should put the boldest amendment on the ballot that has a chance of getting that 60%… ‘, he wrote answering a question by a user.

“In the Florida Legislature, there was this conversation last year about passing a study to eliminate them and replace them with a consumption tax, essentially a sales tax,” Santis said.

Florida’s statewide budget mostly comes from the sales tax, and property taxes to fund critical services like police, fire, and schools. The loss of property tax revenue could have a significant impact on all these.

Sen. Jonathan Martin has introduced a bill calling for a legislative study on how Florida could replace property tax revenue. The proposal garnered mixed reactions, with local government officials and school boards staying largely silent on the matter.

The ‘Property tax elimination’ debate is expected to get all the attention in Florida’s legislative session beginning March 4.