October 27, 2025 • 8 mins
Florida’s property tax debate heats up as the Governor and House Republicans clash over competing plans to cut taxes and address affordability. Publisher of Southeast Politics Janelle Irwin-Taylor explains what’s driving the divide and what it could mean for homeowners.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's bring in the publisher of Southeast Politics, Janelle Irwin Taylor.
You can check out all for work and a whole
lot more at Southeast politics dot com and you can
follow her on acts and Janelle Irwin fl Sir Janelle,
not even at the twenty twenty sixth legislative session yet,
and we already have Governor DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel
(00:23):
perez going at it, this time over the House's property
tax plan. What doesn't the governor like about it?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You know, when when my sister and I were little,
my parents used to joke when we would fight that
they were just going to put us in a padded
room and let us took it out. It looks like
the governor, Daniel Perezi, so the governor, the governor want
suggest a blanket, one ballot proposal that says we're doing
(00:54):
away with property taxes, period, full stop, no property taxes.
She doesn't think that the way that he posits it.
He doesn't think that people who own their homes should
not really own their homes, because really the government owns
their homes because of property taxes.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Well, the banks kind of also technically own the homes
to a mortgage but well.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
If you, but I mean even if you, even if
you own your home out right, you still have to
pay property right right. So anyways, what the what the
legislature has done with Daniel Perez has led is a
series of seven different ballot initiative proposals, which still have
to pass the legislative process, that would offer a suite
of options to voters. Would you like to eliminate property
(01:38):
taxes for seniors? Would you like to gradually lower property taxes?
Things like that. It's totally a buffet, just have fun.
And all of the proposals carve out the portion of
property taxes that goes towards public education, whereas the governor saying, Nope,
(01:58):
we're not going to do that either. You can figure
it out. So the problem with what the governor is saying,
because he basically said I'm going to do this. This
is what is going to happen, except that the governor
cannot place a ballid initiative on the ballot.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Right. And also away, I think it's I think it's
important to note too, he's a lame duck in this
upcoming session. This is not DeSantis at the height of
his gubernatorial powers.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
He absolutely is, and there are three ways to put
a ballid initiative before voters. One is through the legislative process,
which Daniel Perez is leading along with Senate President benhal Britton.
The second is through the citizen process, which requires a
whole bunch of you know, petition signatures that has to
(02:46):
be verified. There's a judicial review. It's a very onerous process,
very expensive process. The third is through the Judicial Revision
Commission or i'm sorry, the Constitution Revision Commission, which doesn't
mean again until twenty thirty seven, so that's out the window.
So there's literally no way for the governor to put
this on the ballot without either going through a citizens process,
which you could find somebody to run it for him.
(03:07):
He's kind of running out of time, though, or through
the legislative process, which she doesn't have enough allies, and.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
The citizen process he's going to do us. Yeah, the
citizen process would be I think a bit ironic considering
how much he has spoken out against some of the
different initiatives that other people have tried to get on
the ballot through that process. We're joined by Southeast Politics
publisher Janelle Irwin Taylor. But I do think he has
(03:34):
a point. He can't have like seven different plans on
the ballot. I mean, is there any indication the Houses
is going to whittle these down?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I mean you have to figure there are behind all
of the elected officials in the legislature, there is an
army of rank and file employees who transcend term limits. Right,
they have the institutional knowledge in talahause in the capital.
You have to figure that at some point these smart
(04:04):
people are going to come together and say, Okay, well,
what if all seven of these pass, how do we
implement that? And I suppose you could, you know, pick
you could take the major components of each ones and
implement them. But it just feels like it's right for
being challenged. If that's the case, well, but what about
(04:25):
this one? Also? You have to contend with voter confusion.
So the governor is absolutely right that having seven different
ballot initiatives related to property taxes is problematic. But there's
an entire legislative process, full of public comment opportunity, full
of debate opportunity amongst members to really kind of figure
(04:48):
out how to make that work, maybe even kind of
pick one and maybe bundle some of the items that
are popular I'm sure they're polling some of this stuff,
and property tax elimination in general is popular among voters,
so I'm sure that the legislative process is going to
solve some of those problems. But for right now, seven
ballot initiatives on one issue seems I remember that ever
(05:11):
happening in my life.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And then you're going to have, you know, all the
races and the local initiatives, and that's that's a like
a book you're going to get when you go into
the voting headache already right now. I also want to
note Nickain, we're joined by Southeast Politics publisher Janelle Irwin Taylor.
You can find all of our work in a whole
lot more at Southeast politics dot com. House speaker Daniel
Perez he responded to the criticism from the governor, asking well,
(05:35):
where's your plan? I mean, the governor has kind of
indicated what he's looking for, but he hasn't released a
specific plan because there are a lot of questions. If
we were to go forward with what the governor wants,
is doing away with it? Uh, you know entirely that
could create all kinds of other problems.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, and the biggest one and why all of the
proposals that came from the House include a carve out
for property taxes related to public education. That's going to
be the biggest rallying cry because public education is already
arguably underfunded. You have teachers' unions and you know, interests
(06:18):
related to public education who are already you know, screaming
for adequate funding for a variety of different reasons, so
that that would be a huge contentious issue. And if
anything's going to kill a ballid initiative, it's a bunch
of ads being blasted on everybody's televisions that's saying, you know,
they want to take away your kid's education. So I
(06:40):
think when you talk about what is the governor's plan,
it's less about you know, I want to eliminate property
taxes that in and of itself as a plan, and
more about Okay, that's fine, but how do you compensate
for the areas like public education that are now going
to lose their revenue streams.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And lastly, this all goes back to there was a
there was a push in to do a big study
on all of this, and the governor didn't want to
do that, and it never ended up happening. But that
would have been something where they would have looked at
all of these different options and scenarios and unintended consequences
(07:19):
and all that kind of stuff, and now it feels
like we're maybe flying a little blind here.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You could certainly make that argument, and there are plenty
of people who are absolutely making that argument. On the
flip side of that, however, is again I point to
the legislative process. We have sixty days of the legislative
session plus committee weeks in which lawmakers are able to
offer amendments, they debate the merits of different proposals, and
(07:47):
this is all subject to legislative approval. So you know,
it's not a study per se, but it is a
vetting process. So you know, on the counter to your point,
you know, you could argue that that is a sufficient
way to ensure that we are putting forth the best
possible option for voters, and then voters still have to
approve it by sixty percent.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
March, So, all right. Southeast Politics publisher Janelle Irwin Taylor
with us this morning. You can find all over work
and a whole lot more at Southeast politics dot com,
and you can check her out on x at Chanel Irwin,
fl Janelle really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Always a pleasures.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
A Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday morning
on news RADIOFLA
Let's bring in the publisher of Southeast Politics, Janelle Irwin Taylor.
You can check out all for work and a whole
lot more at Southeast politics dot com and you can
follow her on acts and Janelle Irwin fl Sir Janelle,
not even at the twenty twenty sixth legislative session yet,
and we already have Governor DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel
(00:23):
perez going at it, this time over the House's property
tax plan. What doesn't the governor like about it?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You know, when when my sister and I were little,
my parents used to joke when we would fight that
they were just going to put us in a padded
room and let us took it out. It looks like
the governor, Daniel Perezi, so the governor, the governor want
suggest a blanket, one ballot proposal that says we're doing
(00:54):
away with property taxes, period, full stop, no property taxes.
She doesn't think that the way that he posits it.
He doesn't think that people who own their homes should
not really own their homes, because really the government owns
their homes because of property taxes.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Well, the banks kind of also technically own the homes
to a mortgage but well.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
If you, but I mean even if you, even if
you own your home out right, you still have to
pay property right right. So anyways, what the what the
legislature has done with Daniel Perez has led is a
series of seven different ballot initiative proposals, which still have
to pass the legislative process, that would offer a suite
of options to voters. Would you like to eliminate property
(01:38):
taxes for seniors? Would you like to gradually lower property taxes?
Things like that. It's totally a buffet, just have fun.
And all of the proposals carve out the portion of
property taxes that goes towards public education, whereas the governor saying, Nope,
(01:58):
we're not going to do that either. You can figure
it out. So the problem with what the governor is saying,
because he basically said I'm going to do this. This
is what is going to happen, except that the governor
cannot place a ballid initiative on the ballot.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Right. And also away, I think it's I think it's
important to note too, he's a lame duck in this
upcoming session. This is not DeSantis at the height of
his gubernatorial powers.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
He absolutely is, and there are three ways to put
a ballid initiative before voters. One is through the legislative process,
which Daniel Perez is leading along with Senate President benhal Britton.
The second is through the citizen process, which requires a
whole bunch of you know, petition signatures that has to
(02:46):
be verified. There's a judicial review. It's a very onerous process,
very expensive process. The third is through the Judicial Revision
Commission or i'm sorry, the Constitution Revision Commission, which doesn't
mean again until twenty thirty seven, so that's out the window.
So there's literally no way for the governor to put
this on the ballot without either going through a citizens process,
which you could find somebody to run it for him.
(03:07):
He's kind of running out of time, though, or through
the legislative process, which she doesn't have enough allies, and.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
The citizen process he's going to do us. Yeah, the
citizen process would be I think a bit ironic considering
how much he has spoken out against some of the
different initiatives that other people have tried to get on
the ballot through that process. We're joined by Southeast Politics
publisher Janelle Irwin Taylor. But I do think he has
(03:34):
a point. He can't have like seven different plans on
the ballot. I mean, is there any indication the Houses
is going to whittle these down?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I mean you have to figure there are behind all
of the elected officials in the legislature, there is an
army of rank and file employees who transcend term limits. Right,
they have the institutional knowledge in talahause in the capital.
You have to figure that at some point these smart
(04:04):
people are going to come together and say, Okay, well,
what if all seven of these pass, how do we
implement that? And I suppose you could, you know, pick
you could take the major components of each ones and
implement them. But it just feels like it's right for
being challenged. If that's the case, well, but what about
(04:25):
this one? Also? You have to contend with voter confusion.
So the governor is absolutely right that having seven different
ballot initiatives related to property taxes is problematic. But there's
an entire legislative process, full of public comment opportunity, full
of debate opportunity amongst members to really kind of figure
(04:48):
out how to make that work, maybe even kind of
pick one and maybe bundle some of the items that
are popular I'm sure they're polling some of this stuff,
and property tax elimination in general is popular among voters,
so I'm sure that the legislative process is going to
solve some of those problems. But for right now, seven
ballot initiatives on one issue seems I remember that ever
(05:11):
happening in my life.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And then you're going to have, you know, all the
races and the local initiatives, and that's that's a like
a book you're going to get when you go into
the voting headache already right now. I also want to
note Nickain, we're joined by Southeast Politics publisher Janelle Irwin Taylor.
You can find all of our work in a whole
lot more at Southeast politics dot com. House speaker Daniel
Perez he responded to the criticism from the governor, asking well,
(05:35):
where's your plan? I mean, the governor has kind of
indicated what he's looking for, but he hasn't released a
specific plan because there are a lot of questions. If
we were to go forward with what the governor wants,
is doing away with it? Uh, you know entirely that
could create all kinds of other problems.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, and the biggest one and why all of the
proposals that came from the House include a carve out
for property taxes related to public education. That's going to
be the biggest rallying cry because public education is already
arguably underfunded. You have teachers' unions and you know, interests
(06:18):
related to public education who are already you know, screaming
for adequate funding for a variety of different reasons, so
that that would be a huge contentious issue. And if
anything's going to kill a ballid initiative, it's a bunch
of ads being blasted on everybody's televisions that's saying, you know,
they want to take away your kid's education. So I
(06:40):
think when you talk about what is the governor's plan,
it's less about you know, I want to eliminate property
taxes that in and of itself as a plan, and
more about Okay, that's fine, but how do you compensate
for the areas like public education that are now going
to lose their revenue streams.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And lastly, this all goes back to there was a
there was a push in to do a big study
on all of this, and the governor didn't want to
do that, and it never ended up happening. But that
would have been something where they would have looked at
all of these different options and scenarios and unintended consequences
(07:19):
and all that kind of stuff, and now it feels
like we're maybe flying a little blind here.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You could certainly make that argument, and there are plenty
of people who are absolutely making that argument. On the
flip side of that, however, is again I point to
the legislative process. We have sixty days of the legislative
session plus committee weeks in which lawmakers are able to
offer amendments, they debate the merits of different proposals, and
(07:47):
this is all subject to legislative approval. So you know,
it's not a study per se, but it is a
vetting process. So you know, on the counter to your point,
you know, you could argue that that is a sufficient
way to ensure that we are putting forth the best
possible option for voters, and then voters still have to
approve it by sixty percent.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
March, So, all right. Southeast Politics publisher Janelle Irwin Taylor
with us this morning. You can find all over work
and a whole lot more at Southeast politics dot com,
and you can check her out on x at Chanel Irwin,
fl Janelle really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Always a pleasures.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
A Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday morning
on news RADIOFLA
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