SUN SENTINEL/ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL
Gov. Ron DeSantis is talking seriously about abolishing or sharply reducing property taxes in Florida — the main source of revenue for police and fire protection, public schools, parks and other basic services.
This idea is so extreme and potentially so catastrophic that we’re not sure he’s serious.
A master of the art of propaganda, DeSantis is adept at setting off bombs in one corner of the room (Drag queens! Scary immigrants! Woke professors!) to distract from unrelated machinations that suppress voters’ voices and drain billions from the state budget into the pockets of billionaires and big corporations. Watch what he does more than what he says.
His proposal to reduce or eliminate property taxes and replace the lost revenue with a higher sales tax, doubling the statewide rate from 6% to 12%, is his biggest boondoggle yet. It’s a tumultuous change when an unstable economy makes it difficult to foresee the consequences.
A tax swap would be a seismic shift in the way government is funded.
A Florida Policy Institute study suggests that cutting property taxes would leave a $43 billion hole in revenue that mostly flows to cities, counties and school districts.
Doubling sales tax?
Doubling the current 6% sales tax rate would produce $40.2 billion, FPI estimates. The rest could be found by repealing sales tax exemptions and patching other holes in the revenue stream. In a worst-case scenario, this could force Florida to tax essential needs such as food, medicines and rent.
Abandoning property taxes hits homeowners harder.
Homeowners would lose their homestead exemptions, and they would be hit with massive tax bills every time a house is sold.
A typical annual tax bill for a $250,000 Florida home is nearly $2,400. But the tax bill on that home, levied at the point of sale, would add $30,000 to its cost. Because the total would likely be rolled into a mortgage, adding interest charges, it would take that homeowner more than 12 years to see a net benefit.
Tourism and construction could take major hits. The hospitality industry is already forecast to see a drop in revenue because families are less likely to travel in times of economic uncertainty.
Those who are considering travel have many options other than the state that would have the highest sales tax rate in the country.
As for construction, a shift to a sales-tax-based economy could force the repeal of numerous exemptions, immediately increasing their pre-construction tax bills months before they see a benefit from increased sales of housing, commercial construction and other marketable real estate.
Crushing the poor
A heavier reliance on the sales tax would force poorer Floridians to carry more of government’s tax burden.
Sales taxes are regressive. They hit low-income families, who spend most of their paychecks in a weekly struggle to survive. Wealthier families and corporations can shield more of their income in investments or engage in “tax tourism” to buy goods in lower-tax states.
It would shift much more political power toward Tallahassee at the expense of local government, a terrible idea.
Greater reliance on the statewide sales tax would put more control of tax revenue in the hands of state lawmakers and the governor, leaving local governments at the mercy of faraway politicians and bureaucrats.
If DeSantis and like-minded legislators hastily shove this plan forward, they will short-circuit a chance to seriously study it with hearings across the state to give experts and everyday Floridians a chance to debate and question. This plan would have to go before voters because it requires an amendment to the Constitution.
DeSantis can stampede lawmakers into putting the property tax question on the 2026 ballot, and if it’s packaged as a tax cut, which it isn’t, it could produce victory.
Florida’s tax system is riddled with inequities and favors the powerful. But it cannot be fixed at a gallop, and we fear that’s what the governor has in mind. Lawmakers should stand their ground and say “not so fast.”
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Kyrs Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. To contact us, email letters@sun-sentinel.com.
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