Florida CFO says eliminating property taxes unlikely, hints at alternative plan

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WINK)—Florida lawmakers wrapped up their legislative session without a plan for property tax relief, leaving homeowners uncertain about potential lower bills. No special session is currently scheduled to address the issue.

WINK News sat down exclusively with Florida's Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia to discuss what comes next for property tax reform.

Claire Galt, WINK News Anchor: "There's still no plan from the governor. Why do you think he hasn't laid out a plan yet?"

Blaise Ingoglia, Florida CFO: "I think he's working behind the scenes with House and Senate leadership developing concepts for the plans. I don't think we're going to wind up with the place where we get rid of property taxes altogether on homestead or properties."

The biggest idea on the table—eliminating property taxes on homesteaded properties—may not happen, according to Ingoglia.

Claire Galt: "What do you think they're going to do?"

Blaise Ingoglia: "There are a couple of different options. One is go back to the original intent of homesteaded property, the original $25,000 homestead exemption."

Claire Galt: "Will it be up to local governments to figure out how to replace that money?"

Blaise Ingoglia: "So replace kind of connotates that they actually needed the money in the first place. I think what we're showing with our audits is that they didn't need all that money in the first place."

Ingoglia suggested that excessive spending has become normalized at the local level.

Claire Galt: "I've talked to some leaders in Lee County, and they say, we've already been very cutthroat on our budget. We've cut our excessive spending the past few years. They say that they're very conservative."

Blaise Ingoglia: "I'm not saying that this is specific to these Lee or Collier counties or Charlotte counties. What I would say is that the egregious spending has sort of become normal, where they don't even recognize what is, what is egregious spending anymore."

Claire Galt: "Are you confident every single local government is overspending?"

Blaise Ingoglia: "I'm confident that the vast majority of governments are overspending. Most governments have just hired a lot more government employees that are not commensurate to the amount of people that are moving in."

Ingoglia made clear he does not support raising other taxes to offset any property tax cuts.

Claire Galt: "Do you think that people will end up paying more somewhere else? Are you a proponent of raising any other kind of tax?"

Blaise Ingoglia: "I am not a proponent of raising any other taxes to make up for the shortfall. In fact, I actually think we need spending caps in the future. This way local governments, if they're not getting the revenue from property taxes, they can't get it somewhere else."

Claire Galt: "Do you think some of them may say it's overstepping from the state level?"

Blaise Ingoglia: "So I hear that argument a lot because a lot of the argument from local governments is about local control. If you are a county government, or if you are a city government, and you are basically abusing the taxpayers by overtaxing them, we're gonna step in."

Ingoglia also expressed his desire to push for a constitutional amendment to cap government spending. Lawmakers would first have to approve such a measure before it could go to voters, possibly as soon as the 2030 ballot.

WINK News will continue to monitor any developments regarding property tax changes this year.