The elections in Florida this November will be very interesting for a number of reasons.
The Republican running for Governor is likely to be current Congressman Byron Donalds, endorsed by Trump and currently has a huge campaign war chest and is leading in the polls.
The other HUGE issue voters will get to vote on this November is DeSantis and the State Legislature are proposing a radical change in how property taxes are calculated, it will substantially lower property taxes for the homesteads of Florida residents.
I haven’t read all the fine print, but my understanding is the homestead exemption the first year will be raised from $50,000 to $150,000 and then to $250,000 in year two. These changes will result in a lot of low-income Florida residents paying zero in property taxes.
This only effects the primary residence of Florida Citizens, it will have no effect on people who own 2nd homes in Florida or snowbirds who own homes elsewhere and a home in Florida. It will also have no effect on commercial properties.
The current Mayor of Jacksonville where I live is a liberal democrat and is declaring if this amendment passes, it will be financial Armageddon for local governments.
One of the side effects if this amendment passes will be a huge number of people moving to Florida that have been thinking about making move the but just haven’t made the decision, if you are paying 15-20k or more in property taxes in NY, moving to Florida will result in a huge reduction in your taxes, beside no state income tax, your property taxes will be a fraction of what you are currently paying.
I live in NH where we also have no state income tax. However, we have high property taxes. We also have no sales tax. Except, for rooms & meals of 8.5%.
So, how does Florida as a state make revenue? Sales tax? hotels & restaurants ?
If the state of Florida reduces or eliminates property taxes for a large portion of people where is the money going to come from? People visiting Disney?