Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
More Info
Some Florida Democrats are warning that a Republican plan to drastically reduce property taxes on Floridians’ primary homes isn’t as good as it seems, because it could mean losing essential local services.
On June 2, the Republican-controlled Legislature voted in favor of putting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ property tax amendment on the ballot for voters to consider in the November election.
The amendment needs at least 60% of the vote to become law, but whether it makes it onto the ballot is still to be determined, because it’s likely to be challenged in court first.
"This proposal, if enacted, will defund essential public services. If history is any indication, this will lead to increased fees and a punishing burden on working families through higher sales and excise taxes," Jerry Demings, Orange County Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, told the Tampa Bay Times on May 27.
Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said June 1 that communities would "have to offset" the revenue loss "by increasing taxes and fees for public services and potentially making budget cuts."
The ballot amendment raises Florida’s current $50,000 threshold for taxing primary residences, or homestead properties, to $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028. This would erase property taxes on primary homes assessed at these values or less.
The measure says the Legislature "shall" create a schedule to continue raising the exemption in subsequent years, but that’s optional.
The amendment also includes changes for second homes, businesses and other non-homestead properties, reducing their annual property tax increase cap from 10% to 5%.
Kurt Wenner, senior vice president of research at Florida TaxWatch, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization funded by business interests, said the measure is "so large and unknown" that no one knows what could happen if the amendment prevails.
"All local governments are different. They depend on varying amounts of property taxes and have different revenue options," he said. "We’ll have to see when the revenue comes in, how they do their budgets and how they’re going to respond."
The Legislature removed a provision that would have created a state trust fund to assist small, rural counties that stand to lose the most money.
A portion of property taxes help fund school districts; the proposal originally sought to eliminate some of the taxes that went to schools, but the final version kept them. This means that homeowners may see their city or county property taxes drop under the measure, but the portion of their bill for the local school district would remain.
Former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes, founder and CEO of the Florida Policy Project nonprofit, said whether the amendment defunds essential services largely depends on the county. Some counties get most of their tax revenue from primary residences, while others rely on commercial and agricultural properties, he said. "Nobody understands the fallout of this bill."
A DeSantis spokesperson said the defunding claims are false and referred to the governor’s previous comments about local governments being able to absorb the loss because of how much property taxes have risen over the last several years. DeSantis has said that under his plan, municipalities’ budgets will resemble what they were around 2019 and give taxpayers a break .
Studies have shown that many Florida counties have had tax revenue increases that exceed recent inflation and population growth in the state.
But government spending on public safety, healthcare for public employees, utilities, maintenance and construction have all gotten more expensive, said Esteban Leonardo Santis, research director at the left-leaning Florida Policy Institute. "Forcing local budgets to collect property taxes at 2019 levels would defund them, because these costs would still remain," Santis said.
Amendment guarantees local tax revenue loss, service cuts remain uncertain
A volunteer at a Citrus County Library branch in Beverly Hills, Fla., puts books back on shelves in September 2014 (AP).
Experts said it’s difficult to determine which public services could be affected, and where, because each city and county is different, and the plan hasn’t undergone a fiscal impact study.
"Local governments are going to lose revenue, there's no question about that," Wenner said. "It will depend on whether they’re able to find efficiencies and non-essential things to cut. In areas with a lot of homesteads, it’s going to be tough for them not to reduce some services unless they raise revenue to replace it."
The amount of revenue that comes from property taxes varies across the state. For counties, it can range from 12% to more than 50% of their budget, and for cities it can range from almost nothing to 90%, Wenner said.
Browa…
Read the full article at PolitiFact →
United States