When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis known as for property tax repeal, he was doing one thing without delay novel and acquainted. Eliminating the property taxA property tax is primarily levied on immovable property like land and buildings, in addition to on tangible private property that’s movable, like automobiles and tools. Property taxes are the one largest supply of state and native income within the U.S. and assist fund faculties, roads, police, and different providers.
could be unprecedented. Calling for a daring change and charging the legislature with checking out the main points, nevertheless, is a tried-and-true a part of the gubernatorial toolkit.
The problem for Florida’s legislature is discovering a method to change, or do with out, a taxA tax is a compulsory fee or cost collected by native, state, and nationwide governments from people or companies to cowl the prices of normal authorities providers, items, and actions.
that can increase an estimated $55 billion for Florida’s native governments and faculties this fiscal 12 months—and to take action, per the governor, with out elevating state taxes.
To place that determine in context, it’s solely barely lower than the $58 billion Florida’s state authorities collected in tax income final fiscal 12 months, and significantly greater than the $46 billion a 12 months generated by the state’s 6 p.c gross sales taxA gross sales tax is levied on retail gross sales of products and providers and, ideally, ought to apply to all closing consumption with few exemptions. Many governments exempt items like groceries; base broadening, comparable to together with groceries, might maintain charges decrease. A gross sales tax ought to exempt business-to-business transactions which, when taxed, trigger tax pyramiding.
, its main supply of tax income. Even absent any behavioral responses, Florida’s common mixed state-local gross sales tax fee must exceed 14 p.c to make up for the lack of the property tax.
This can be a preview of our full op-ed initially printed in The Dispatch.
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