A study released Monday by a think tank says that if Florida goes through with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to get rid of property taxes, the state’s residents would have to pay the highest sales taxes in the country.
According to study from the nonpartisan Florida Policy Institute (FPI), the base sales tax would go from 6% to 12%. However, the researchers also said that because people would be buying less, the state would have to raise taxes even more.
The rate would be on top of local sales taxes and surtaxes, such as the infrastructure tax in Seminole County and the sales taxes in many school districts.
According to FPI’s study, lawmakers would need to find about $43 billion to keep public services running if property taxes were taken away. This includes 18% of county revenue, 17% of municipal revenue, and 73% of school district revenue in the state.
Many experts already think that Florida’s tax system is the most “upside down” in the country. This is because there are no income taxes in Florida and the state relies more on sales taxes. It’s called “upside down” because people with low to moderate incomes usually pay a bigger chunk of their yearly income in taxes than people with high incomes.
Economists from the FPI said that since there is no state income tax to balance out the sales taxes, getting rid of the property tax would make things even better for rich families.
“Proponents of these proposals say that property tax cuts are necessary to help, but they don’t focus on the households that need it the most. Instead, they choose top-down, one-size-fits-all tax relief that helps wealthy households but ignores renters and threatens public education and services,” Esteban Leonardo Santis, the author of the report, said.
Santis also said that local governments that depend on property taxes would be hampered, making it harder for them to pay for schools, fire and police departments, and other basic public services.
Lawmakers in the state have not said for sure that they will agree with DeSantis’s idea, but legislation has been proposed to look into the possibility of getting rid of property taxes.
DeSantis himself said that getting rid of property taxes would require changing the Constitution.
He wrote on X, “We should put the most risky amendment on the ballot that has a chance of getting that 60%.” “I agree that taxing land or property is the unfairest and least useful way to collect money.”
There are other options that politicians could consider, such as taxing “luxury” items and services like mansions, private jets, and stocks. Some of these ideas have already been used in Florida.
