by MARK JACKSON
Sponsored by Visit Central Florida
Nobody likes to pay taxes…and I mean nobody.
But in Florida, we’re lucky enough to have visitors leave a good portion of their money behind, lessening the overall tax burden on Florida residents.
Let’s start with taxes we already don’t pay that other states are subject to. For example, one of the great things about living in the Sunshine State is that we don’t pay personal income taxes. Compare that with California, where the rate could be more than 12 percent. Other states with high personal income tax rates include Hawaii, at more than 11 percent, New York and New Jersey, both at more than 10 percent, and Minnesota, where it is over 9 percent.
And, compared to other states, our sales tax rate is fairly low. At 6 percent, we’re lower than Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas.
Now, I’m not saying that property taxes don’t make an impact on your family’s budget. But compared to New Jersey, with a property income tax rate of 2.47 percent, or the Live-Free-or-Die state of New Hampshire, with a 2.09 percent, even Wisconsin, with a property tax rate of 1.85 percent doesn’t look so bad.
Meanwhile, the average impact in the state of Florida is .8 percent. That includes the lowest, Walton County, at .48 percent, and the highest, Glades County, at 1.11 percent. Here in Polk, we’re just off the median at .73 percent.
Why is Florida’s overall rate so low?
Thank a tourist.
Polk’s Tourism Market
Polk County thrives mainly through two types of tourism – the leisure traveler and the sports traveler. The leisure traveler is who we think of as a tourist – folks from out of town to take in LEGOLAND Florida Resort, Bok Tower Gardens or other similar activities. The sports traveler is defined as an amateur and their family who are traveling to Polk County to participate in an event – say a soccer tournament. This is a particular area where Polk County shines – we average more than 300 events a year, nearly 10 times as many events as most Florida counties.
Combined, visitors to Polk County spent more than $2.9 billion last year, which generated an economic impact of more $4.5 billion, a figure that has nearly doubled over the past five years. More than 41,000 Polk County jobs are supported through tourism, spanning nearly every sector, from hotels and restaurants to retail workers, truck drivers and plumbers.
What Polk County Residents Get
So, you ask yourself, what do these visitors bring to Polk County?
When a tourist spends their money in Polk County – for a meal, a trinket or a T-shirt – residents benefit. Tourism spending saves a Polk County household more than $1,700 annually in taxes alone.
Additionally, thanks to the Tourist Development Tax – better known as the “bed tax,” which tourists pay during overnight stays – the average Polk County resident has access to world-class facilities such as the AdventHealth Fieldhouse, Lake Myrtle Sports Complex, the RP Funding Center, or the recently completed Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven. All were funded via bed taxes.
Victim of Our Own Success
Now, I’d be lying to you to say that I didn’t let out an audible gasp the last time I got my property tax bill.
But don’t blame my friend Joe Tedder at the tax collector’s office. It isn’t his fault.
Florida, it seems, is just too great of a place to live.
From 2020 to 2025, Florida’s population swelled by more than 2 million new residents – and that’s counting the folks who left. That’s nearly a 10 percent increase. That increase, in turn, put a strain on housing – which has made the value of our homes increase. When the value goes up, so does the tax burden.
And relief is needed. Floridians are struggling. We lead the nation in most financial distress categories, especially those who are either low income or on a fixed income. A recent survey found that a quarter of the paycheck advances in Florida this past year were used to buy groceries. And we haven’t even mentioned the increase in cost for home insurance or health care.
But none of those will be solved by eliminating the property tax in a state with one of the lightest overall tax burdens in the nation.
And here in Polk, as in most of the state, in the end, we’ll have lost more than we’d gain.
Or, as it says in Deuteronomy 25:4, “Do not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.”