Don’t bankrupt cities or ban kids’ vaccines (Sun Sentinel editorial)
- CANA of Wilton Manors
- Jan 4
- 4 min read
First, do no harm.”
That medical maxim, taught to physicians for ages, would serve Florida well if the Legislature were to adopt it. The need is now.
In the mercifully final year of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ eight-year reign, he wants lawmakers to commit two enormously harmful misdeeds.
First, he would end much of the property taxation that runs cities and counties. He has not specified how, but he denounced a House scheme to put up to seven conflicting constitutional amendments to a statewide vote. It’s much too risky. Don’t do it,
legislators.
Second, DeSantis wants the Legislature to repeal state laws requiring schoolchildren to be
vaccinated against diphtheria, measles and other once-deadly diseases. That’s insane.
Putting lives at risk
On his own, unless the Legislature blocks him, as it should, Florida’s quackpot Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is scrapping four newer vaccine mandates, including ones that prevent meningitis and chickenpox, which can recur as debilitating shingles in adulthood.
Unlike most governors, but similar to his predecessor, Rick Scott, DeSantis became chief
executive with no experience in state or local government. That deficiency showed as he signed laws eviscerating home rule for the sake of developers and other special interests.
But his radical assault on property taxes is the worst.
DeSantis was a middling three-term congressman who became governor — barely —
on Donald Trump’s endorsement and soon ran for president — with disastrous results. His attacks on property taxes and vaccines are brazenly political, along with his aggressive incarceration of undocumented immigrants in detention centers the Legislature never authorized.
Children’s lives and basic government services should not be sacrificed to one man’s ambitions.
Shift and shaft
The seven property tax proposals blessed by House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, are tied to increasing the homestead exemption (and lowering taxes) for homeowners. Any conceivable outcome would shift the tax burden, shafting commercial property owners and renters.
Tenants already bear an unfair share through their rent.
The amendments contain a gimmick meant to beguile the opposition. The cuts would exempt school taxes and forbid cuts to law enforcement. That implausible hold-harmless provision does not extend to firefighters and emergency medical services, except for one amendment, or to any other important services that cities and counties provide.
The measure purporting to protect first responders, HJR 209, would cost local
governments some $8.6 billion and threaten to wipe residential cities off the map. None of the proposals provide more state aid.
You’re not overtaxed
Florida, with no personal income tax, is hardly overtaxed by national standards. Its property taxes rank low on the national scale (30th among states, according to the Tax Foundation.)
But it does have the most regressive system, which hits poorer people harder, and home insurance rates here are the highest and would likely go even higher if tax cuts hobble fire-rescue departments.
No legislation has been filed yet to carry out DeSantis’ reckless war on vaccines. But Ladapo has begun to repeal rules requiring school kids to be protected against certain types of hepatitis, influenza, pneumonia, meningitis and chickenpox.
The mandates in state law, which only the Legislature can repeal, protect against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DPT); polio; and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). Diphtheria, polio and measles used to kill children by the thousands. The gravestones in any cemetery up to the mid-20th century bear witness.
DeSantis and most legislators are too young to remember the seasonal terror that once gripped families before every summer polio season. If he prevails, polio could return. Measles is already killing American children again because of falling vaccination compliance.
Children must be vaccinated to protect those who can’t be. The conflict is between proven public health measures on one hand and irresponsibility under the guise of “freedom” on the other. The Legislature’s choice couldn’t be clearer.
Timing is all wrong
The tax issue is both untimely and unwise. The state Constitution requires an appointed Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC) every 20 years, with the next one due in 2027. Like the Legislature, it can place amendments directly on the ballot.
With a limited scope, the tax commission can focus on complicated tax issues without linking them to unrelated matters. None of the 25 members may be legislators. They would be chosen by the next legislative leaders and governor, so they could not help DeSantis run for president.
A deep, 102-page study by Wichita State University, commissioned by the Florida League of Cities, carries many well-documented warnings.
By comparison, a few superficial pages were in a staff report available to House Ways and Means Committee members when they hurriedly passed HJR 209 on a 10-5 party-line vote in December.
The House report did not attempt to describe how having $8.6 billion less would impact public services, or how the money would be replaced. It’s obvious: Lawmakers are moving much too quickly without adequate knowledge of the enormous implications.
It’s time for another well-worn maxim: When in doubt, vote no.
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. To contact us, email at letters@sunsentinel.
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