Jeff Brandes again criticizes property tax savings proposals

Former Sen. Jeff Brandes is again criticizing state leaders for lacking a plan on property tax cuts for Florida homeowners, an idea first pitched by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“What we have is a bumper sticker, we have a slogan, but we don’t have a policy,” Brandes said, according to WPTV. “We haven’t even seen the back-of-a-napkin that shows how this will work, let alone a full, responsible plan that lays out the intricacies of this. We also know it will bankrupt some cities and counties.”

Brandes is now the founder and President of The Florida Policy Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute. Brandes supports some measure of property tax relief, but he has long been critical of the lack of a viable plan to make it happen.

DeSantis has called for eliminating property taxes entirely, while the House has rolled out seven proposed constitutional amendments that would require voter approval in November. All of the proposals carve out the portion of property taxes used for school taxes and include language blocking cuts to law enforcement funding to accommodate what would be a huge ding to local government revenue.

While some of the measures initially moved in the House, none have made any progress since late January, and the Senate so far hasn’t shown an appetite for the measures.

Supporters of either rolling back or eliminating property taxes argue it’s a way to provide financial relief to Floridians facing affordability challenges. They say local governments have been too quick to increase spending, meaning they should be able to adjust budgets to operate within their means even with the loss of revenue.

But critics argue massive property tax cuts could impact the ability to fund law enforcement and would create major budget shortfalls for local governments, particularly those in smaller communities. Further, they say the proposed cuts would only benefit homeowners, while failing to address affordability for non-homeowners.

With just four weeks left in the 2026 Legislative Session, time is running out for lawmakers to get something passed. Talk has already begun about a potential Special Session to address the issue.

And in the meantime, DeSantis earlier this month said he’s still not ready to offer a specific proposal to eliminate homestead property taxes.

This isn’t the first time Brandes has chimed in to criticize the lack of a plan. Writing in an op-ed for Florida Politics in November, Brandes lamented that “the Governor has produced exactly zero spreadsheets, zero fiscal models and zero back-of-the-napkin calculations to show how it would work.”

In November, Brandes also warned that “renters will pay through higher rents” while “new buyers will pay through inflated prices,” should eliminating property taxes add to other tax-friendly policies in Florida to make it “the nation’s premier tax shelter.”

Brandes isn’t alone in critiquing the process. Former House Speaker Paul Renner, who now is a candidate for Governor, went a different direction than Brandes, calling on lawmakers to follow DeSantis’ limited guidance and eliminate homestead property taxes.

On Wednesday, he argued the “House has proposed conflicting plans that give only marginal relief,” adding that “every legislator and local elected official that lobbied against property tax cuts should be recalled or voted out of office.”

Taken as a whole — the myriad proposals that appear now-stalled in the House, the Senate’s lack of any movement at all on the issue, the Governor’s lack of specificity, and the growing critique on a variety of fronts — there are signals the property tax issue isn’t likely to be resolved this Legislative Session, and may find a difficult path even in a Special Session.