Florida's leaders need to craft a budget to avoid our own government shutdown

Are you ready for a government shutdown — in Florida?
It could happen if Florida Republicans can't resolve their differences over tax cuts. The only thing state lawmakers are required to do is to have a state budget ready to be implemented on July 1. In a normal legislative session, that's done in 60 days. Not this time. Legislative leaders won't reconvene until after Memorial Day, with the Florida House extending the session until June 30, while the Florida Senate hopes to get things done by June 6. The differing deadlines don't offer reassurance that lawmakers can reconcile their differences, not to mention appease a governor who has already threatened the House's proposed budget with a veto.
Three very different tax cut proposals, one looming deadline. The 2025-2026 budget starts July 1.
While many believe lawmakers will meet the budget deadline, the brawl over who can come up with a historic tax cut is comparable to a WWE NXT Battleground with three key players looking like The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Now is not the time for a big tax cut, the smart play is to hold off, but who'll will be the adult in the room?
If DeSantis had his way, he'd eliminate property taxes completely, at best an unrealistic fantasy. He initially proposed a constitutional amendment to rid Florida of property taxes and has asked lawmakers to give homeowners a $1,000 property tax rebate before seeking voter approval to eliminate property taxes in 2026. Unfortunately, for him, DeSantis is facing major headwinds. Lacking any means to replace the revenue raised by property taxes, local government officials and many legislators — Republican and Democrat — are dubious about the governor's tax cut plan.
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None perhaps more than the man who runs the Florida House, Daniel Perez.
The House Speaker wants a tax cut, too. But, he's going after the state's sales tax and, apparently, the governor.
Perez has gotten the Florida House to pass a $5 billion tax relief package that cuts the sales tax from 6% to 5.25%. In the process, he's poohed-poohed DeSantis' property tax plan, a part of the growing acrimony between Perez and the governor that has been building since the start of the legislative session. The speaker did form a committee to study property taxes, a move DeSantis derided as a "dog and pony show." When asked about the chances of the governor and speaker meeting to resolve their differences, Perez compared DeSantis to a "seventh-grader."
Pity Ben Albritton. He's tried to be the voice of reason in the acrimonious contest of wills between DeSantis and Perez, even as he pushed his own modest tax cut by exempting sales taxes on clothing under $75. DeSantis likes the idea. Perez? Not so much. He's accused Albritton of reneging on what the speaker thought was the "framework" of an agreement to support the sales tax cut. The feuding between DeSantis, Perez and now Albritton has pushed the senate president's plans onto the backburner. Right now the three are at an impasse and nothing's getting done.
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Obviously, the Legislature should avoid any chance of a shutdown by approving a budget before mid-June. And given the state's Legislative Budget Commission's long range forecast of a $2.8 billion shortfall next year and $6.9 billion deficit in 2027, any talk of a major tax break should be shelved until the economic outlook improves.
Tax cuts are a hard habit for state legislative leaders to break. If there's ever a hope for an intervention, now would the ideal time.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida needs a budget to avert a government shutdown | Editorial

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