provided to The Santiva Chronicle
“The bottom line? Look, I would love not having property taxes, but I love it when I can, you know, have police and fire workers….” said president and chief executive officer of Florida TaxWatch Jeff Kottkamp in summation of his dissatisfaction with current proposed state legislation. “It’s not possible to have a thriving economy and great quality of life without some manner or form of sound government.”
The former Florida lieutenant governor and acting governor addressed the May 12 joint business meeting luncheon of SanCap Chamber and Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce (GFMCC) at the Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa in Fort Myers.
He began with a brief history of how TaxWatch formed as the state’s premier, independent nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog and taxpayer research institute – tasked with going line by line through the annual legislative budget.
“It takes a lot of time,” he said. “And we identify every single thing in the lines where they didn’t go through due process, it wasn’t heard in the community.”
In their most recent session, legislators were unable to fulfill their “one constitutional obligation” to balance the budget in 60 days, he said. He expected that to happen in special session the following week, so in the meantime he was unable to speak specifically to line items.
He focused on proposals to eliminate property taxes for homestead properties in Florida, airing his opposition to the proposal and enumerating possible reforms. He posited that Gov. Ron DeSantis would wait until closer to elections to push his plan.
Homestead property taxes impact the state budget to the tune of $59 million. “So, you’ve got to have a way to earn that,” Kottkamp said. “And so that has to be part of the conversation.”
Homestead tax elimination would hurt Florida counties already fiscally strained. It would not impact Lee County as heavily as some other counties, but as a former resident of the county, he opposes the foreseeable outcome.
Kottkamp touched on government waste and spending on things Florida doesn’t need.
“I understand, we’ve got the money, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend it,” he said. “Why don’t you cut taxes?”
He demonstrated with statistics and observations the bright economic outlook for the state of Florida: “This is no longer just a retirement state. This is a quality-of-life, place-to-do-business state. It is on fire!”
“Jeff has served on the TaxWatch board of trustees for the last 10 years, and its like he was made for the leadership position with his impressive political background,” said John Lai, president and CEO of SanCap Chamber and GFMCC. “In addition, he is a good friend of Lee County and fastidious in his oversight of legislative impact on us and the greater state of Florida. His insights were most welcome at this significant juncture of Florida tax history.”
Sponsors of the May 12 meeting included HBKS Wealth Advisors, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), McKinnis Roofing & Sheet Metal, and Community Choice Credit Union.
The next joint meeting of the SanCap Chamber and GFMCC, the Annual Nonprofit Luncheon, will take place June 9 at DoubleTree by Hilton Fort Myers at Bell Tower Shops, 13051 Bell Tower Dr. starting at 11:30 a.m.
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