The leading Republican candidate for Governor says he won’t take no for an answer when it comes to a constitutional amendment lowering property taxes for homeowners’ primary residences.
“If it doesn’t pass this November, we’re going to bring it back as the state’s next Governor,” said U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds on Friday’s Varney and Co.
Donalds says his plan would use a mechanism in state government to effectuate change should HJR 1-F not clear the 60% threshold, raising the exemption to $150,000 next year and $250,000 in 2028.
“We’re going to use our tax and budget commission, which is in Florida’s Constitution, to study all taxes and fees with the goal of eliminating homestead property taxes or at a minimum, of providing real relief to seniors on fixed income and working families in our state,” the candidate told Varney’s Fox Business viewers.
The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC) is scheduled to meet again next January for the first time in 20 years, soon after the next Governor is sworn in. It could advance an amendment for the 2028 ballot.
In issuing caution ahead of the Special Session, the fiscal watchdog group Florida TaxWatch said TBRC would be an appropriate forum to consider changes such as those voters will contemplate in November.
During the same segment, Donalds gave Gov. Ron DeSantis support amid attacks on the proposed constitutional amendment from editorialist at the Wall Street Journal, which is owned by NewsCorp just like Fox Business is.
“What the Journal did not talk about is that property taxes in the state of Florida have doubled over the last decade. Our seniors on fixed income, they’re still on fixed income. Our working families, they’re trying to make ends meet. Local governments in our state have watched those property taxes double,and they did little to stop it. So the Governor is taking the right approach in this, but at the end of the day this is gonna be in the hands of the voters of Florida. The Legislature can’t make changes, they propose that for the ballot. The voters of Florida will decide this November.”
