Property Taxes Through the Lens of Government & Through Entrepreneurship - Top 3 Takeaways - February 12th, 2026
Takeaway #1: Property tax perspective
In our great state’s great debate about property tax reform, the dividing lines are as clear as you might expect them to be. For example, if you tune in to hear what I have to say about it, what would you expect to hear? That I’m in favor of eliminating homesteaded property taxes, right? And you’d be right about that. And if you turned to basically every other news media outlet, what would you expect to get? The perspective of the...woe is the local government that won’t be able to provide the same level of life saving services if we were to ever dare to do such a thing... And that’s exactly what you get. So, for that reason it’s of no surprise that, for example, yesterday the Sun Sentinel’s opinion piece was turned over to Cooper City Commissioner Lisa Mallozzi yesterday who eloquently made the standard municipal government argument in this case. As she stated: Context is often lost when residents say they want to “cut city taxes.” In reality, cities are being asked to do more with a relatively small slice of the overall tax bill, even as service demands continue to grow. Those services begin the moment your day starts. Clean drinking water is delivered to your home. Wastewater is safely treated. Roads, sidewalks, drainage systems and neighborhood trees are maintained. Parks, sports fields and recreational facilities provide places for families to gather, while libraries offer free access to books, technology and learning. When something goes wrong, trained firefighters and law enforcement officers respond, without a bill, fee or toll. Public safety, like infrastructure, exists because communities pool resources to provide services the private market often cannot deliver equitably. This is the hidden machinery of local government. It’s easy to overlook precisely because it works. There’s no invoice after a fire truck responds. No toll booth on neighborhood streets. No entrance fee at a city park. It’s an artfully presented and generally compelling argument. I mean, how could we possibly go without that? In today’s Q&A the Martin County Taxpayer’s Association will present a contrary and compelling counterpoint to the smaller local government arguments (hopefully I’ve done so sufficiently for larger local governments, a la my extensive analysis on Palm Beach County specifically). But here’s the thing above and beyond to keep in mind and that and that’s endlessly frustrating...
Takeaway #2: It's about the premise
I’ll soon turn 46 and at the current phase of my life I feel as though I’ve lived three. My childhood/education days, my life as an entrepreneur, and my life doing what you’ve known me to do for the past 20+ years. There's a bit over overlap with all three of those things, for example I was in college when I started in radio, and I was in radio when I started my first business, but nevertheless each of those three feel like different lives to me. I’ve rarely spoken of my days as an entrepreneur in part because as a practice, I don’t prefer to take the “look at me” approach to life. I’d rather provide analytically aggregated information that is presented to you in a compelling way that stands on its own. However, there are rare occasions when I feel compelled to think back to a former life or two to illustrate a point about what can be done if people in public offices were compelled, as any successful entrepreneur is, to do things differently. So, here’s my quick example to illustrate a point. In the mid-90's, as a teen, I pursued something that didn’t exist on the east coast. A 100% real fruit and juice smoothie bar with dozens of choices (exotic fruits and juices too). I made the case to my father, and he thought it had merit. He promised he’d cosign a loan (I was too young to obtain credit) if I could create a business plan a lender would fund. That’s what I did, and I was turned down by the SBA and multiple banks before a small business banker at Wachovia said he’d fund it if I could answer one additional question. What was my plan if a major competitor entered the market near me. When I made the case how I’d win with a better product – the only 100% real product - (concept and service too) he signed off on the line of credit. The supply chain I needed didn’t exist. So, over a period of six months, while preparing to launch the business, now at the age of 18 – and while working full-time in radio I established a supply chain from scratch (with lots of business expertise from my dad) that covered four continents to obtain the fruits, vegetables and juices needed...and ultimately a business that was profitable within its first six months (my business plan estimate was two years). The business grew and in its first full year won statewide awards, I received recognition, and the rest was history. Every successful entrepreneur has a story like that. So this is what drives nuts when it comes to our local governments on the property tax issue. Here we are in a country that was founded through a revolution the rest of the world thought couldn’t be won. Our country went from a rag tag group of colonies to the world’s leading superpower in about 150 years because of individual liberty and meritocracy leading to unprecedented innovation, opportunity and wealth.
Takeaway #3 Here we are in a country with modern day entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk that are changing the world. And yet we live in communities with local governments that say we can’t have a functional society unless you permanently rent your property from the government and at ever rising rates that far exceed population growth and inflation rates. I’ll gladly point out to every one of these entitled and misguided government officials that our entire country managed to go its first 137 years without a permanent income tax. I’ll also gladly point out to these entitled and misguided government officials that if they attempted to say that we had to pay additional taxes every year on our vehicles, or they’d repossess them – everyone in the state of Florida would tell them to pound sand. Ditto that’s true if local governments were to say that we have to pay annual taxes on the items we own inside of our home. Seriously, if local governments attempted to pursue those taxes what would you do? With that in mind in what universe does it make sense that you can keep your stuff but not your home unless you pay local government every year however much it is that they demand from you? The entire premise of property taxes is an anti-American false premise. What’s happened is that the bad system was put into place a long time ago and you’ve been conditioned to accept it. The problem is unimaginative and entitled local government officials expect it. It shouldn’t be this way. It doesn’t have to be this way. Every single local government official who tells you it can't be done is no different than every lender who told me what I did couldn’t be done. They’re no different than the people who said we should have never fought the revolution. They’re people who would probably have mocked Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Elon Musk for dropping out of college too. It doesn’t necessarily make them bad people, it just makes them the wrong people for the job. I’ll say it again. We have a historic opportunity in front of us to end a tax that governments never should have imposed. DeSantis has done the math. I’ve done the math. It works. What doesn’t is status quo entitled local governments that are more than happy to continue to collect taxes at greater than double the rate than incomes grow and at rates that about commonly 9 times higher than population growth. This isn’t complicated. They just like to make it seem that way.