While lawmakers across the Sunshine State seemingly agree that they need to focus on the budget and cutting costs for Floridians, how to get there remains to be determined.
Not only did the House and Senate approve vastly different state budgets when kicking off negotiations last week, but there are also competing tax cut proposals.
Your Florida's Douglas Soule previously reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for tax rebates that would return an average of $1,000 in property taxes to Florida homeowners. This is estimated to cost the state around $5 billion.
At a similar cost but on an annual basis, a permanent sales tax reduction is being pushed by House Speaker Daniel Perez. It an option the governor argues will help more tourists than residents.
According to Florida Politics, Senate President Ben Albritton suggested a less expensive plan for sales tax exemption on clothes purchases up to $75. The Senate president, although open-minded, previously urged caution when it comes to cutting taxes.
ALSO READ: Florida House and Senate approve budgets with big differences to resolve
Rep. Tom Fabricio, R-Miami Lakes, is vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. On "The Florida Roundup," he explained how a proposal to trim three-quarters of 1% in sales tax was unanimously passed.
"It's great. I like it, and I like that it's permanent versus the tax holidays that we've been having," Fabricio told host Tom Hudson on "The Florida Roundup."
Fabricio also supports cutting property taxes because he has received many calls about it, but he sides with Perez because lowering property taxes would require a constitutional referendum, and people wouldn't see savings until 2027.
"Of course, I support lowering the sales tax, but the home run down the road, and what I would like to continue to work for here in the Florida House would be to find a way to get to the governor's vision of lowering property taxes," Fabricio said.
Controversy over which taxes to cut
The debate over slashing taxes and which to prioritize is not solely in the Legislature. Several callers to "The Florida Roundup" expressed their perspective.
Isabel Heart in Naples said she's a well-to-do Republican property owner and urged people to stop looking at the topic from a personal perspective.
"Unless all of us thrive, none of us will thrive," Heart said.
Heart called sales taxes regressive and also suggested increasing property taxes for those who are not first-time homeowners.
"Money that rich people keep doesn't necessarily get spent in the economy. Money saved and given back to the poorest among us, they spend every single dollar of it," Heart said.
ALSO READ: Senator says nixing property taxes will bring a 'true period of darkness to the Sunshine State
Ann Long in Jacksonville, who has lived in Florida for 85 years, opts for a property tax cut.
"The sales tax and the recent dramatic increase in insurance premiums have really made a dent in people on fixed income, and I would prefer a property tax cut to a sales tax cut," Long explained. "We do have some control over sales tax when we decide how much we're going to spend."
Daryl Willis in Lake Worth disagrees with how the governor is framing his argument against sales tax cuts helping tourists more than Floridians. He also mentioned that property taxes are used to pay for schools and the importance of education.
Thoughts on tariffs and the economy
During the same week that the Legislature kicked off budget negotiations, the economy had been a big topic of discussion nationally.
As NPR reported, it started with President Donald Trump announcing sweeping tariffs — which promptly took a toll on the stock market — and ended with a pause on most of them for 90 days.
"When the markets dropped dramatically, it was scary, but I think we've seen some swing back," Fabricio said.
ALSO READ: Where do tariffs stand? A look at what's in place and what's on pause
Fabricio said that Trump knows that he has two years to make the economy work, and if he isn't able to, that will be problematic for his presidency. He added that he supports Trump on the issue and believes countries will come to the table to negotiate and that there won't be any long-term issues.
"I think we're going to have a good, strong, balanced economy stronger than it's been for many years," Fabricio said.
However, Orlando business owner Al Brown said he believes the country is really struggling and that there's a "crisis in leadership."
Brown said his business supplies medical devices to hospitals, but he is having trouble providing products to customers because he sources them from overseas.
"The tariffs are causing a disaster," Brown said on "The Florida Roundup." "And representatives like this, and then you know, so-called leaders in Congress, they just don't understand what we have to do to get products on the street and into the hands of the people who use them to save people's lives. This is a mess, a complete mess."
ALSO READ: 'Make Florida more affordable': Senate President Ben Albritton talks legislative priorities
Aside from the tariffs, there have also been concerns when it comes to cutting state sales taxes and the potential of businesses increasing prices.
Fabricio said he believes in a free market. And while he anticipates businesses wanting to compete by raising prices due to various factors, he doesn't think it will solely be due to cutting taxes.
"I'm not cynical like that, but I do believe that there are potentially other inflationary causes that may cause prices to go up otherwise," Fabricio said.
A budget competition
Fabricio said legislators have been looking for ways to reduce spending.
Initial budgets have been approved for the House and the Senate as they work to negotiate. As Soule reported, the House's budget of nearly $113 billion is $4.4 billion less than the Senate's proposal of $117.4 billion. DeSantis' budget proposal is for $115.6 billion.
Fabricio said all three are competing to see which will have the lowest budget.
"I think at this point, the House budget is the best, the biggest cut of the three," Fabricio said. "But you'll see that we are slashing government spending quite a bit."
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
