A Democratic Florida senator says the "math isn't mathing" when it comes to eliminating property taxes.
State Sen. Shevrin "Shev" Jones, D-Miami Gardens, sits on two committees where a bill to study the impact of eliminating property taxes is destined.
That proposal (SB 852) has the backing of Republican Senate President Ben Albritton, who is interested in looking closely at the options.
"My goal is to make Florida more affordable for Floridians," Albritton previously said on "The Florida Roundup." "My goal would be to continue to look for meaningful opportunities to make Florida more affordable in the tax space for our residents."
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While Jones agrees with studying ways to bring relief to Floridians, he told Tom Hudson with "The Florida Roundup" that he will be voting no on the measure.
"I support us studying anything that we can figure out how to bring relief to Floridians, but the elimination of property taxes in Florida is not one of them because it will absolutely bring a true period of darkness to the Sunshine State," Jones said.
The senator added that while property taxes aren't perfect, they are the backbone of paying for essential services like schools. He also has concerns about how it will affect low-income Floridians.
If this current proposal is passed, a study would need to be done by Oct. 1, according to the News Service of Florida. In general, it will take some time before any voting happens about cutting the taxes.
It would also take a constitutional amendment for Floridians to vote on, which would require 60% support during an election for this to come to fruition.
But Jones is expressing concerns as he's listened to experts who have done extensive research at the Florida Policy Institute. He worries voters won't realize how it could impact their day-to-day lives.
"Some of them won't understand that this will put Floridians in a very, very tough position," Jones said about an amendment being put out to voters.
Below is a breakdown of his interview with "The Florida Roundup":
Potential impact on services
The Florida Policy Institute's February report estimated that if state property taxes were eliminated, state sales taxes would have to double from 6% to 12% to make up for the lost tax revenue.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has also said that if property taxes were eliminated, state sales taxes would not increase, Jones said. He said if the governor found a way to eliminate property taxes while not raising sales taxes and still providing funds for local governments to thrive, he'd be a "yes vote all day."
"But the thing is we know that that's just not how politics work, and the math isn't mathing right now," Jones said.
He said because cities and counties have to go to the Legislature before raising their local sales taxes, they're also being put into a conundrum.
Jones said local governments would lose fiscal economy and would be dependent on the state for funding for schools or public services like police or fire departments.
"While property taxes aren't perfect, they are truly the backbone of funding the essential services that many individuals take for granted," he said.
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He said that according to a presentation he remembers from a financing tax committee, in the last fiscal year, property taxes raised $55 billion of revenue for local governments and school districts — doubling over the last decade. He said that around $33.7 billion went to government and social programs and around $20 billion to schools.
"Schools are the single biggest beneficiaries from property taxes," Jones said.
His question is how will schools be paid for and how will local governments fund the needs of their communities.
"If they cannot give a answer, a answer that benefits Floridians, I think we should not only take the idea off the table, I think we should stop putting things out there like this that raises red flags with Floridians when they're already under enough stress when it comes to spending money, and the money that's coming out of their pocket," Jones said.
Effect on lower-income households
The senator also said that without property taxes, it would fall to renters as the money has to be paid somewhere.
Jones argues that those with lower to moderate incomes — including both renters and property owners — will end up paying more in taxes due to the percentage of their earnings compared to wealthy residents if the sales tax increases to make up for lost revenue.
"As this conversation happens, then my hope is that my colleagues speak to Floridians who will have to foot this bill or this idea, this very bad idea that is being circulated," Jones said.
Government efficiency
DeSantis has described that there may be a way for it to not cost more taxes if local governments are forced to look at spending.
Jones said he believes Democrats and Republicans in Tallahassee have made it clear that they want to have a "good faith" check on government efficiency to see whether local governments are spending taxpayer dollars appropriately.
He said if legislators want to have a true conversation on making sure Floridians can keep more money in their pocket, it should not be starting with eliminating property taxes.
Instead, they need to look inward.
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"It should start at what does our wasteful spending look like over the last, what, 10 to 15 years in the state of Florida, since my colleagues have been in power," Jones said. "There's money that can be saved. There's money that we have wasted since I've been in the legislature."
Jones said that there are other avenues that legislators can consider to help Floridians keep more money.
Overall, Jones said he does believe lawmakers will move to have a study but stands by his thoughts that rolling out an elimination of property taxes is not the way to go. Instead, he said an alternative solution to consider is a tax relief for those most affected by property taxes.
"While the goal of reducing this financial burden on our homeowners is commendable and something I believe personally that we all want, eliminating property taxes could lead to underfunded essential services and increase tax burdens on low-income residents, loss of local government autonomy and various economic pitfalls that we cannot even list," Jones said.
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
