Someone will have to pay for Florida’s irresponsible plan to cut property taxes | Opinion
In Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises,” when asked about how he went bankrupt, Mike Campbell answers: “two ways… gradually and then suddenly.” Today, his poignant response typifies the seemingly single-minded effort to eliminate property taxes in Florida, a state Hemingway once called home.
Consider, for example, the Florida House’s flagship property tax proposal: House Joint Resolution (HJR) 203. The legislation started as a way to phase out non-school property taxes for primary residences over a 10-year period. However, just before its final vote in the House, lawmakers abandoned the incremental phase out and changed it to take effect all at once next year.
The once gradual elimination would have cost Miami-Dade County roughly $1.5 billion annually, according to an analysis of state data by Florida Policy Institute; the amended proposal would now cost the county $2.3 billion each year. The amended resolution would also prohibit counties, including Miami-Dade, from lowering their budgets for first responders despite billions in forgone revenue.
The truth is that property taxes support a wide range of public services and programs, including Miami-Dade’s Jackson Health System, the Children’s Trust, disaster preparedness and public schools — all while safeguarding local choices.
The prospect of eliminating property taxes, whether gradually or suddenly, is a fiscally irresponsible attempt to control how communities spend their money and shifts the cost burden onto Floridians who are already struggling to make ends meet. Consider that the first iteration of the idea was HB 1371 in 2024 to study the impact of eliminating property taxes and swapping them with a “consumption tax.” That could have meant swapping property taxes with a 12-to-14.3 percent sales tax plus Miami-Dade’s local penny sales surtax.
The 2024 bill did not make it out of committee. Then, in 2025, the Legislature included a provision in a tax package to commission state economists to assess the impact of eliminating property taxes on homesteaded properties. Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed it.
Although the idea has now morphed to partially eliminate property taxes, policymakers have offered no revenue alternatives nor implementation guidance, leaving many of us to wonder who will pay for this.
Public budgeting calls for balance, meaning that someone will pay for whatever proposal makes it out of Tallahassee and onto the November ballot. If at least 60% of voters approve the tax cuts, localities will be forced to either increase property taxes on non-homesteaded properties such as businesses, increase or outsource fees for services, and/or drastically cut programs.
Since state lawmakers have offered no implementation guidance, they could very well return in 2027 and increase sales taxes to 8.85%. Who will pay for this? Floridians will.
Supporters of the idea often question whether someone truly owns their home if they continue to pay taxes, likening homeownership to owning a television. This type of reductive thinking does not account for the fact that owning a television requires you to pay a recurring fee to cable or streaming service providers, as well as electricity charges — otherwise, the TV becomes useless decor. This comparison intentionally obscures the value of choosing to live in a community whose services and amenities benefit not only you, but also your neighbors.
The proposal to eliminate property taxes is a crude Band-Aid to an affordability crisis rooted in escalating costs for property insurance, rent, child care, groceries, transportation and health care — one that would limit the legitimacy and efficacy of communities. Ultimately, if this becomes law, when asked how our communities went bankrupt, we can answer plainly: gradually and then suddenly.
Ultimately, if this becomes law, when asked how our communities went bankrupt, we can answer plainly: gradually and then suddenly.
Esteban Santis is director of research at Florida Policy Institute.