Jacksonville Housing Market Residents: Let’s Do Away with Property Taxes

Business Journal readers are solidly behind a proposal to eliminate the state’s property tax and replace it with a higher sales tax.

Last month the Speaker of Florida’s House proposed dropping the property tax and raising the sales tax from 6 cents to 8.5 cents. The proposal is the subject of an online survey that asks Florida mortgage loan holders: “Should the property tax be replaced with an increased sales tax?”

Of the 474 respondents to the poll, 67 percent were in favor of the proposal, with 33 percent opposed.

Some readers who support the proposal see benefits beyond lower housing costs.

“The more that property ownership is encouraged, the more ownership people have in their community,” wrote one reader, “the more responsibly they will act.”

Opponents think the move will shift the tax burden onto the poor.

“Raising the sales tax will hurt everyone else, but it will be felt by the poor, low-income households, single mothers, single adults or the working class who have already been squeezed out of the Florida housing market,” wrote one opponent.

However, the majority of readers favored the proposal, and several argued that property owners, along with Florida mortgage holders overall, foot a disproportionate share of the tax burden

“Why should those who don’t own property get a free ride?” wrote one reader. “A tax on consumption is always preferable to a tax on property.”