Paul Renner wants lawmakers to roll back property taxes

Gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner wants the Governor and Legislature to roll back property taxes while they hash out the road forward to permanent abatement for homesteaders, and potentially others.

“We see that property taxes in Florida have risen at least twice as fast as our incomes, and people simply can’t keep up,” the Palm Coast Republican said in Tampa. “When I go to events, I talk to people on a regular basis who are losing their homes, leaving the state, or contemplating leaving the state, and that has to stop now.”

Taxes had been rolled back in 2006 and 2007, Renner said, establishing precedent for the proposal as a stopgap while the executive and legislative branch figure out a unified way forward.

“While the Governor and the Legislature work on a longer-term plan, that plan will go on the ballot in November of 2026, and we will not see the benefit of that until November of 2027. That’s two years from now. And meanwhile, we’ll see our taxes continue to go up, people continue to have the strains and problems and potentially losing their homes,” Renner said.

“This plan is a solution. It is a rollback now through legislative action, and so I’m calling on my friends and colleagues in the legislature in the House and Senate to work with the Governor, to legislatively roll back property taxes in the state of Florida so that no one’s property taxes will go up next year, and everyone’s property taxes will go down while we work on a longer-term strategy.”

Renner also proposes restricting local government to have its budget grow no faster than populations and incomes increase. He also believes that any tax increases should be subject to supermajority referendum approval.

“This is a plan that is simple. It will guarantee every single Florida property tax, whether it’s a business, whether it’s a renter, whether it’s a homestead property, a taxpayer will get a tax cut. They will not see their taxes go up while we work on a long-term solution,” Renner said. 

That long-term solution is proving elusive so far.

As Lt. Gov. Jay Collins has said, Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t close to releasing his formal proposal for a constitutional amendment that would eliminate homestead property taxes. Meanwhile, the House is mulling eight proposals that the executive branch says will confuse voters and muddy the message.

Renner, who is a former House Speaker, urges collaboration.

“I think you need one plan. And you need one plan that’s straightforward, that people can look at it and say, ‘Does this make my life better?’”