The president of the Florida Senate may have closed the door on major permanent state tax cuts this year, warning it would be unwise to take such a step without further study.
At the very least, he’s added a new wrinkle to an emerging confrontation between Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Perez that could complicate negotiations over a state budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
In a letter to members of the Senate, Ben Albritton acknowledged DeSantis’s call to eliminate property taxes next year and, prior to that, to provide an average $1,000 rebate to the 5.1 million homesteaded properties across Florida this year as well as Perez’s call to permanently roll back the state’s sales tax.
Perez’s proposal would reduce the state’s coffers by about $5 billion annually and DeSantis’s proposal by at least that amount.
“These are both significant ideas, worthy of our thought and consideration,” Albritton wrote. “However, at this point, I believe it is prudent that a final tax cut package of this size be predominantly nonrecurring, while permanent tax cuts are explored during the interim.”
Nonrecurring means one-time tax cuts that would have to be renewed if the Legislature wants to do that next year. The Legislature routinely passes large tax packages, but most of the reductions aren’t permanent. For instance, lawmakers passed a $1.14 billion tax plan last yea,r but just $110 million represented continuing spending.
Albritton advised senators to keep an open mind but added:
“Cutting taxes now does little good if they have to be raised two years from now to address budget shortfalls. No one wants a repeat of the Great Recession, and we’ve done our best to avoid that by [reining] in spending, paying down debt, and setting aside significant reserves,” Albritton wrote.
“There are cumulative impacts to every tax cut. We need to do our due diligence and understand those impacts, combined with the projected budget shortfalls already on the horizon.
“Florida is not Washington, D.C., California, or New York. We take great pride in our balanced budget, low taxes, and responsible fiscal planning that have made our state the envy of the nation.”
DeSantis that very morning reiterated his call for property tax cuts, which would require ratification by the voters through a state constitutional amendment, possibly on the 2026 general election ballot. If the Legislature doesn’t say yes to that this year, or to a sales tax cut from 6% to 5.25%, as Perez proposes, it would have time to act during next year’s legislative session.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has judged Florida’s sale tax the most regressive in the country, meaning that it falls most heavily on those who can least afford it, in terms of its bite into household income. On the other hand, collections benefit from spending by tourists and winter residents.
DeSantis, for his part, argues property taxes mean “ponying up money to the government just for the courtesy of using your own property.”
Albritton observed that the Legislature is near the half-way point of its 2025 session.
“At the end of the day, I’m not comfortable passing a budget that is balanced for this year, but likely creates major shortfalls down the road,” he wrote.
“Cutting waste and inefficiency plays an important role in responsible spending; however, there is a cost associated with maintaining our transportation, clean water, and health care infrastructure, ensuring universal school choice for every family, hurricane response and recovery, and of course public safety. We owe it to taxpayers to get this right.”
The tax rift is likely to make it more difficult for the Legislature to complete the one thing it is required to do every annual session: Pass a state budget.
The House and Senate released early iterations of proposed spending plans for state fiscal year 2025-2026 that would spend $112.95 billion and $117.36 billion, respectively.
That means there’s a $4.4 billion difference between the proposals that must be negotiated and settled before the chambers can begin fine tuning how to spend the money.
The spending difference climbs to $4.6 billion if the $200 million appropriation in the Rural Renaissance initiative championed by Albritton is taken into consideration.
Both proposed budgets are less than the existing spending of $118.6 billion.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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AuthorDJAnderson
The state legislature is right to wait and see. The probability of having to raise taxes is very high. As federal funding is cut, shortfalls will have to made up somehow. Natural disasters are not going to stop happening in our state. On a side note, I would really like to see some serious movement made toward our insurance crisis. Insurance for vehicles are more than twice that of the previous state I lived in. When I asked why, I was told because we have so many uninsured vehicles. I recently spoke with an acquaintance who doesn’t carry homeowner’s insurance on his home because he has no mortgage and thus is not required to have it. He consequently qualified for FEMA funding after Hurricane Milton. How about fix these issues with a system that reports cancelation of insurance on vehicles and properties and issue penalties that make up the difference for other citizens? I’m convinced that Florida is only going to get more expensive. But, we’ll see.
Wednesday, April 2 Report this
Ladyred4Justice
To Mr. Anderson, just to ease your mind and possibly lower your irritation at your acquaintance, he qualified for a FEMA guaranteed LOAN at a super low interest rate. He has to pay it back if his property qualifies; it is not a grant or a giveaway. If he'd had insurance, they would have paid for about 75% of the damage, leaving him with a 25% debt versus 100%.
Vehicles are a completely different issue, yet their is one similarity. Home Insurance is about being reimbursed for damage to your home. Vehicle insurance is broken down into four parts. Everyone is required to have basic liability and medical coverage. Many drivers are not eligible for a Florida drivers license, therefore they can not get insurance. I am not just discussing migrants, there are tens of thousands of Floridians who are driving on a suspended license. Usually because they could not afford the mandatory insurance and they need the car to keep their job. So they drive on suspended licenses with no insurance. It is bad and the legislature is not dealing with that problem either.
The Collision & Comprehensive vehicle insurance cover damage and incidentals covering the insureds vehicle regardless of fault. It is expensive and many of us do not carry it because the vehicle is not worth the cost of insurance or it is over our budget and not necessary.
The Legislature should study both situations and see if they can come up with relief for the citizens, not the lawyers, insurance lobby, and contractors. They also need to be ready to deal with the fallout from the loss of Federal funding for dozens of state agencies and joint projects across the state. Is the Everglades restoration to be stopped in the middle and jeopardize the entire project? It most certainly will need to be dealt with quickly and tax cuts are extremely irresponsible at this time.
Wednesday, April 2 Report this