Posted on 02/24/2025 7:24:43 AM PST by Jacquerie
Florida lawmakers will examine the potential elimination of property taxes under legislation filed this week by Sen. Jonathan Martin.
The bill, SB 852, directs the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (OEDR) to study how the state could replace property tax revenue through alternative means, such as sales-based consumption taxes or budget reductions.
The study will evaluate the financial impact of eliminating property taxes, which fund public schools, infrastructure, law enforcement, and emergency services. It must assess whether sales or consumption-based taxes could generate stable revenue without disrupting essential services. The study will also determine also want to determine whether removing property taxes would affect homeownership rates, property values, and overall market stability.
The bill further requires an analysis of how the change could impact Florida’s business environment by inquiring as to whether shifting to a consumption-based tax model would further enhance Florida’s competitiveness. The study will also examine the economic risks of relying on sales taxes, which can fluctuate based on consumer spending.
If the bill is passed, OEDR must submit its findings to the Senate President and House Speaker by Oct. 1.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecapitolist.com ...
With 149,000,000 million tourists to FL in 2024, higher sales and use taxes just might work.
Better to severely limit property taxes. Without some means of transferring title from abandoned property, or property where there are no obvious heirs, much property stagnates to nothing.
There has to be a provision for the transfer of title of abandoned property.
I was a foe of property taxes for a long time, until I saw huge amounts of property which was abandoned, no owner, not way to get title, except through a process which consumed more resources than the property was worth.
Hopefully, Texas eliminates property tax. I will be paying over $17,000 this year for my primary residence.
Replacing it with sales tax and “consumption tax” doesn’t sound like an improvement. My suspicion is that it would lead to an income tax.
Income taxes in FL do not poll well and are prohibited by the FL constitution.
The sales/use taxes may largely be paid by 149,000,000 tourists.
Holy cow! I pay 2,500 a year on a 375K home (Florida). Texas is expensive!
That is more like it.
From what I read, in the United Kingdom there is no annual property tax for its citizens.
Property taxes are unconstitutional infringement of our right to own property.
You do not own your property. You lease it from the government. When you “sell” your property you are really selling the lease so the new resident can pay the yearly rent to the government. That the “lease” is extremely expensive doesn’t change that.
The government is your landlord. No amount of pretzel logic will change that. As long as the government can evict you for non payment of your yearly rent to it, you do not own the property.
A senior with no property does not pay property tax. A senior with limited or fixed income would then be subject to taxation when purchasing things.
A big problem with the current system of property taxation is raising it as its supposed value rises. You haven’t realized the increase because you are still living in it and won’t realize it until you sell.
Property taxes are unconstitutional infringement of our right to own property.
On the frontier, property taxes were often unenforceable or non-existent, because there was no state government.
But property taxes have always existed in the United States of America, and have always been Constitutional.
If the USA federal government tried to implement property taxes, that would be unconstitutional.
“A senior with no property does not pay property tax. “
Any senior who is not dead, lives somewhere. Where that bed is someone pays a property tax.
In Florida, long time residents have a homestead law that limits property tax increases. Businesses don’t have that protection and assessment increases will force up much faster the taxes to be paid.
If you don’t own then your landlord must pay a full tax and pass that on to the renter. That can be unfair as the renter can rent in one place for a decade and not have any increase protection that the owner of same property would have in Florida.
Problems will come up when the voters try to have a say on this tax matter.
Some 80% of the voters will be homesteaded and get the tax relief. Leaving the businesses and renters to foot ever increasing bills.
Taxes might actually be reasonable but for government spending.
Thanks to profligate spending, they’ve taxed income and property so much, it’s counterproductive to tax it more without severely reducing the state’s take.
So like racketeers, instead of cutting spending, they move onto the next score.
“I pay 2,500 a year on a 375K home (Florida)”
In Illinois you would pay 2-1/2 to 3 times that.
True, but it also distributes the tax burden onto all residents, including cash only business (legal or not) renters, grifters, seasonal workers as well as tourists. In Texas I have exemptions for homestead and over 65. It doesn't eliminate my taxes like you describe in Florida, but it does reduce it where it is manageable even on a fixed income.
It may not be feasible for your state, but it does seem unfair for only property owners to bear so much of the state financing when everyone benefits from the services.
An easier start would be for Florida to stop taxing food, especially in stores.
A senior with no property does not pay property tax. A senior with limited or fixed income would then be subject to taxation when purchasing things.
Everyone pays property taxes. If you do not own your property, you rent it from someone who pays property taxes on it and your rent covers those payments.
You make good points.
But it seems to me that because these taxes are local and not federal shouldn’t void our right to own property.
Besides, and I don’t believe this to be minor, I’m not saying that a tax based on the value your property is, by itself, unconstitutional, though it is odious. I’m saying that the confiscation of our property for non payment is a violation of our right to own property. You do not own your property if the government can take it away from you. You are owning property at the pleasure of the government.
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