Paul Renner is ‘not a huge fan’ of GOP’s proposed amendment on property taxes

Former Florida Speaker of the House Paul Renner has made property tax reform a central tenet of his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor.

Renner said last fall that the Legislature should roll back ad valorem taxes immediately and not delay until 2027, which would be the case if the proposed constitutional amendment on reducing non-school property taxes on homestead properties approved by the Legislature last week is approved by 60% of the voters this November.

Renner was also enthusiastic about the framework for a property tax reduction plan introduced late last month by Gov. Ron DeSantis, but he’s decidedly not happy about the ultimate product the GOP-controlled Legislature approved last week, which removed several key provisions from the governor’s plan.

“I think that they took the governor’s proposal and watered it down to a point that I’m not a huge fan of this proposal,” Renner told the Phoenix in a phone conversation Thursday, moments before he addressed a group of supporters in Tampa.

The Legislature made several significant changes to DeSantis’ property tax proposal when they passed their joint resolution last week. The most significant was ensuring it would not apply to property taxes used to fund Florida’s public school system. It also removed a trust fund that would provide grants to local governments to theoretically help them replace lost revenues.

“Under what’s on the ballot for November, you’re still going to be paying property taxes on school taxes, at least, no matter whether it passes or not,” Renner said. “And it also has the problem of not having any of the backfill that the governor wanted, either, and so, for the fiscally constrained counties, that’s going to become a real issue.”

Renner has claimed that his own “Florida First Affordability Plan” would provide the largest property tax cut in Florida history:

• A $1 million exemption for homeowners, which he says would eliminate property taxes for 95% of them.
• A $750,000 exemption for non-housing properties.

It would make up some of those revenues by adding a 3% real estate transaction fee on homestead properties, 5% on non-homesteaded properties, and remove any fees for first-time homebuyers with two years of Florida residency.

“My proposal is both bigger on the benefit side but it also has replacement taxes by shifting the burden away from those who make home here in Florida towards long-term residents, towards people who vacation here and speculate here, who are coming in from out of state who are trying to harness more of that than asking people who have lived here for 30 years and are on fixed incomes to continue paying at these elevated rates,” he said.

“So I think the framework I’ve got if we’re going to do it right, and I think the changes that they made to the governor’s proposal — which I supported — make it not very attractive to me. And I get the argument that it’s better than nothing, but I think we can do a lot better.”

Renner qualified earlier this week in the Republican primary for Florida governor. Most public opinion surveys show him trailing significantly behind front-runner Byron Donalds, the Naples U.S. House member finishing his third term in Congress.