Getting rid of property taxes in Florida would come with big consequences and challenges for the state, which would need to find about $43 billion elsewhere to make up for that loss of revenue funding critical public services, according to a new Florida Policy Institute report.
Property taxes make up about 73% of school district revenue, according the report. And property taxes make up about 18% of county revenue and 17% of municipal revenue, helping communities address some of their most critical needs, including fire and police services.
“Property taxes are the cornerstone of local fiscal autonomy in our state,” said institute policy analyst Esteban Leonardo Santis, author of the report that was released Monday. “Eliminating property taxes would strip local governments of their fiscal independence.”
A state Senate proposal would direct Florida to study the potential impacts of replacing property tax revenue with budget cuts and sales taxes, including some local sales taxes. Gov. Ron DeSantis also recently floated the idea in a social media post and said property tax is an “oppressive and ineffective form of taxation.”
Over time, property taxes have proven to be “remarkably resilient,” according to the report, much more stable than a consumption, or sales, tax. Sales taxes tend to be more volatile, subject to change based on the current economic outlook.
“If we have an economic downturn, the sales tax is not as stable as property taxes, which means that we could see drastic cuts or changes in public services, depending on how the economy is going,” Santis said.
Florida already has the most regressive tax code in the country, Santis said, citing the latest edition of the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy’s “Who Pays?” report. Expanding the state’s reliance on sales tax would exacerbate existing inequities for lower- to moderate-income families, who spend more of what they have on sales tax, compared to wealthier households, Santis said.
To make up for the drop in property tax revenue, Florida would need to at least double its current general sales tax rate, to 12%, and likely to higher, the report notes.
At 12%, Florida would have the highest sales tax rate in the country.
Copyright 2025 Central Florida Public Media
