Florida unveils strategy to slash property taxes statewide. Could it work?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – This week, Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia revealed the state’s plans to possibly cut property taxes for residents.

Ingoglia made the announcement during a news briefing in West Palm Beach on Tuesday, discussing recent audits into local governments’ spending.

“What we have seen over the last five years, post-COVID, is that local governments have taken their budgets and expanded them greatly,” Ingoglia stated.

According to the CFO, the general fund budgets for these local governments, which are funded by property taxes, have gone up on average between 60% - 120%.

Furthermore, he argued that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these governments used federal funds to greatly expand their scope and — in some cases — grant “egregious raises” to employees.

And then, thanks to the flood of new residents coming into the state, these governments were able to accrue even more tax revenue, which allowed them to keep up their spending, Blaise claimed.

“When you go back pre-COVID, and you start factoring in inflation and population growth, those budgets should not have exploded anywhere near where they’re exploding right now,” he added.

Ingoglia also said that state audits of these local governments could shed light on potentially wasteful spending, which he and Gov. Ron DeSantis could then show to residents.

“We’re going to arm people with the information in the counties with that information, so then they can make decisions based upon whether they want to re-elect local officials or — probably just as equally important, if not more important — will they vote for a constitutional amendment in November ‘26,″ he said.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH PROPERTY TAXES?

Property taxes were a big issue for DeSantis during the Legislative session earlier this year, with the governor declaring that he’d be looking into options to axe them.

“We can’t control private markets, but we can control how much they can tax you,” DeSantis said. “So we’re going to be working over the next year and a half to see what we can present for voters to be able to vote in the next election for some major, major property tax limitations and reliefs.”

Proponents of property taxes often assert that they’re a vital part of collecting revenue for public programs, such as schools and police stations. Without the tax revenue, these programs could be majorly stymied.

But on the flip side, property taxes are typically deeply unpopular — the second-most unpopular behind federal income taxes, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Opponents argue that property taxes unfairly target homeowners, who have already taken on all of the other burdens that come with homeownership. Worse yet, tax incidence means that the cost of these taxes could even end up falling downstream to lower-income renters who make use of these properties.

COULD FLORIDA ACTUALLY ELIMINATE PROPERTY TAXES?

The short answer is: not easily.

Local governments are the ones that levy property taxes — not the state — so it would require a constitutional amendment to eradicate them statewide.

DeSantis addressed this fact himself back in February, clarifying that he would indeed support their elimination.

But before voters can even decide on such a motion, an amendment would first have to be proposed via one of the following methods:

• A joint resolution of the Florida Legislature
• A citizens’ initiative
• A proposal from the Constitution Revision Commission
• A proposal from the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission

So far, there have been no citizens’ initiatives regarding the elimination of property taxes, and while lawmakers crafted a handful of bills aimed at the topic, none of them managed to pass this year.

But even if they did, the amendment would still likely not go before voters until 2026 at the earliest.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE AUDITS?

Several local governments in Florida have already been audited by the state via its DOGE (“Department of Government Efficiency”) Task Force.

Some of the factors that the task force has been looking for are as follows:

• Excessive government contracts
• Compensation of government workers
• Property management
• Utilities
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies
• “Green New Deal” programs supported by the local government
• Grants and other spending on NGOs

“We’re trying to see how much the average person in the county makes as compared to the average local government,” Ingoglia continued. “I think that’s an important metric. We’re trying to see how much money they have socked away in reserve funds.”

The aim, Ingoglia posited, is to show that these local governments have more money than they actually need, which would mean that there’s room to ease up on property taxes afflicting state residents.

“There are defensive measures we can put in place to make sure that we hold (these governments) accountable,” he said. “The biggest defensive measure is to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, and the voters can vote for property tax relief.”

During Tuesday’s briefing, Ingoglia said that DOGE had managed to discover “eye-popping” examples of Palm Beach County’s wasteful spending.

Upon being asked by reporters for more details, though, Ingoglia said that the information would be released in reports around 60 days after the review ends.