Florida lawmakers to nix property taxes? Get real [View all]

News flash: Public services don’t come free.

Florida Republicans want to eliminate property taxes, which might be more popular in the Sunshine State than eliminating mosquitoes. A statewide referendum next year would likely drive record turnout to the polls, with the outcome a certainty. As Paul Tash, my old boss, would say: “Everybody loves free ice cream.”

But this is a terrible idea, fertilized by the most dishonest messaging I’ve ever seen from Tallahassee. It would bankrupt cities and counties, eviscerate police and fire departments and drive school systems into the ground. That Republican lawmakers are marshalling behind it shows how cynical and vacuous our representatives have become.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders have separately endorsed the idea, in what’s become an arms race among Republicans to compete for the party base in 2026 and beyond. But they have coalesced around the same false selling point: That nobody really owns their home if — as DeSantis put it — “you have to continue writing a check to the government, every year, just for the privilege of being able to use (your) property.”

Nobody’s writing a check “just for the privilege” of using their property. They’re paying their share for the public services we all provide. You may have bought your home, but the roads outside your home aren’t free. Police and fire protection aren’t free. Traffic lights and intersections aren’t free. Public schools aren’t free and neither are the sidewalks, parks and senior centers. Anyone who thinks their home entitles them to a lifetime of free services either doesn’t understand how society works or is entirely off their rocker.

Yet Republicans continue to pretend that Florida could eliminate property taxes, even entirely, without having to find other revenue to pay the bills. DeSantis said so during his State of the State address in March, insisting that Florida would not replace property taxes with new revenue. “Don’t let anyone tell you we will seek to raise state taxes because we will not,” DeSantis said. Three area House Republicans echoed the same fantasy last week, writing in the Tampa Bay Times that “Florida should be the first state in America to slash or eliminate and replace property taxes,” and calling on readers to “demand bold, practical” solutions for 2026.

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2025/05/28/florida-lawmakers-nix-property-taxes-get-real-column/