Florida unveils strategy to slash property taxes statewide. Could it work?
Potentially wasteful spending could prove need for tax cuts, CFO said
What we have seen over the last five years, post-COVID, is that local governments have taken their budgets and expanded them greatly,” Ingoglia stated.According to the CFO, the general fund budgets for these local governments, which are funded by property taxes, have gone up on average between 60% - 120%.
Furthermore, he argued that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these governments used federal funds to greatly expand their scope and — in some cases — grant “egregious raises” to employees.
And then, thanks to the flood of new residents coming into the state, these governments were able to accrue even more tax revenue, which allowed them to keep up their spending, Blaise claimed.
“When you go back pre-COVID, and you start factoring in inflation and population growth, those budgets should not have exploded anywhere near where they’re exploding right now,” he added.
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