Florida leaders discussed property tax cuts throughout the session, and lawmakers even requested a study on the issue before taking further action. However, the governor believes the study should be skipped, asserting it’s time to act, not analyze.
During this year’s legislative session, state senators pushed for a study on property taxes to examine how local governments use revenue from this tax and what would happen if the taxes were eliminated or reduced.
The study would have been led by the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, but Governor DeSantis took out his red pen and vetoed those plans.
“His analysis has left me very perplexed. So I vetoed it because we don’t need to give money to the bureaucracy to study it. We know what needs to be done. So, let’s do it,” DeSantis said during the signing of the 2025 budget.
DeSantis wants to bypass the study and take this issue directly to the ballot in 2026, which would require 60% voter approval.
But without a thorough study, it’s unclear whether lawmakers will have all the necessary data to craft a proposal, especially considering the impacts vary by county.
“Here in the Senate, we’ll have a lot of debate in our finance and tax committee, perhaps even over the summer, to determine how to address some of the proposals that came from the House, maybe some of the proposals from the governor’s office; how to integrate all of this and build a system that benefits Floridians,” said Senate President Ben Albritton.
Across the chamber, House members are conducting their own select committee on the issue and were tasked with returning to their districts to speak with local governments about possible paths forward.
Lawmakers must now choose between pushing forward with bold reform quickly or taking even more time to delve deeper into the matter.
Image: Wfla
