Once again, a gutless Legislature would be dumping its fiscal responsibilities on local government. It would also be setting school boards and county commissions at each other's throats to drain the sales tax well before it runs dry. Floridians who itemize their federal income tax would have to pay more of it. Property taxes are deductible but sales taxes are not. If Florida's property taxes are moderately regressive, it's because renters get no benefit from the homestead exemption.
Sales taxes are much more regressive, even for middle-income families.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a liberal Democrat from Broward County who advanced the idea in the commission, expects to introduce it in the Legislature as well. She's also loath to wipe out local impact taxes as part of the deal unless the state replaces them with earmarked revenue from documentary stamps or intangible taxes. In all the polling I've seen, the people detest property taxes. They don't detest sales taxes nearly as much. To Dominic Calabro, president of Florida TaxWatch, it's an old and unconvincing story.