A proposal before the Florida Legislature has many provisions to help lower property taxes in our state, and Florida TaxWatch appreciates the conversation. In fact, our January 2026 report “Save Our Taxpayers — Property Tax Relief Must be Accomplished Equitably” highlighted the rapid growth in local government property tax collections and concluded that significant relief is warranted. Moreover, our “How Counties Compare” report shows that most Florida counties have increases in property tax revenues that have far exceeded the growth in population and inflation over the last 10 years.
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However, we do not believe you can solve the problem by simply discussing the increase in property tax.
In a recent media release, Florida TaxWatch shared that we also need to discuss the rapid increase in local government budgets. If guardrails aren’t put in place to curb local government spending, any reduction in homestead property tax revenue will simply be passed on to non-homestead property owners or replaced with other taxes, fees, and assessments.
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Florida’s property tax system already shifts billions in property taxes from homesteads to non-homestead property. This proposal would worsen this inequity, even with the reduction in the non-homestead cap. The provision in the Governor’s proposal to use the traditional rolled-back millage rate as the “maximum” rate (unless overridden with supermajority votes) would help taxpayers and slow the tax shift, but it must be remembered that the rolled-back rate would allow local governments to recover lost revenue, without even having to portray it as a tax increase.
It is worth noting that even if the property tax reforms that have been proposed become law, Floridians will still receive a property tax bill to pay for special assessments, which will surely proliferate.
In addition, the hurried evaluation and adoption of this proposal, which became public less than a week ago, is unnecessary. The proposal has a lot of moving parts, and not all provisions are fleshed out, which would require the Legislature to adopt an implementing bill next session. This is a very important issue that requires serious and thoughtful research, an opportunity for public input, and thorough debate.
Rather than force this issue to be decided in a hastily called special session, it would be far better to have this issue taken up by the constitutionally mandated group Florida TaxWatch helped establish- — the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC).
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Florida’s Taxation and Budget Reform Commission will be appointed in 2027. Its 25 members will have the time needed to fully study not only the property tax issue, but a wide range of budget, taxation, and government efficiency issues. They can not only make recommendations to the Legislature — they can place issues like property tax reform directly on the ballot for voters to decide.
We commend the governor for bringing such an ambitious plan forward. It contains some good provisions that can provide a starting point for the TBRC, such as reducing the cap on annual increases in non-homestead property assessments from 10% to 5%. This would bring us closer to the Florida TaxWatch “Save Our Taxpayer” proposal to cap all properties at a 3% increase per year.
We agree that Floridians need relief from ever-escalating property taxes. That relief is needed by homestead property owners and non-homestead property owners alike. Issues need to be thoroughly discussed and considered, such as how the cities and counties pay for core government functions if we enact property tax reform, or even what functions of government are considered “core.”
It must be considered that replacing lost school property taxes, as well as creating the mandated state trust fund to help local governments pay for core services, would result in billions in recurring expenses for the state. This may not be prudent with potential future budget shortfalls already estimated by the state. A thorough, official fiscal impact estimate must be developed before a major tax change such as this is adopted.
We understand the temptation to quickly pass property tax reform. However, for all the reasons stated here Florida TaxWatch believes the better approach is to take our time and let the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission tackle this important task.
Jeff Kottkamp, Esq., serves as the president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute and government watchdog for more than 45 years. He is the former lieutenant governor of the state of Florida. This was adapted and updated from a press release sent out Monday.
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