FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2026
Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Rep. Ryan Chamberlin announced his plan to lead an initiative to eliminate property taxes from the Florida Constitution via the citizen petition process. Chamberlin has been an early champion for the outright elimination of property taxes and has filed several pieces of legislation in the past several sessions for assessing feasibility and then eliminating the tax.
“Today I am announcing that I will be pursuing action to take property tax relief to the next level,” said Rep. Ryan Chamberlin. “I will help lead an effort to pass a citizen constitutional amendment that bans ad valorem taxes on real estate levied by any level of government. Then the legislature will be forced to implement new solutions to make sure we have a system in place for funding police, fire departments, and schools. No one is interested in defunding any of the vitally important government service funded by local taxes. It’s just time to figure out a better way to pay for it than letting government continue to be the owner of all property and impose an onerous tax system on our people.”
In this year’s legislative session, Chamberlin introduced a package of legislation that would have eliminated property taxes while replacing revenue with a combination of sales taxes, tourism taxes, and one-time fees on property transactions. One of the recurring arguments cited by proponents for property tax reform are the rapidly increasing local government revenues, in many cases greater than 50 percent over 4 years. Because property taxes are determined by a combination of rates set by commissioners and valuations set by appraisers, the entire system has been criticized for its opacity and unpredictability.
"I have made the points before about our current property tax system," continued Chamberlin. "It is unfair. It requires us to pay taxes on unrealized gains. It is based on the fictional math living in some local bureaucrat’s head. It is predicated upon the concept that government owns all property, and we the people are just renters. I believe this tax system is immoral and runs counter to everything we believe as Americans and definitely as the people of the free state of Florida."
“The people of Florida are hungry for meaningful progress on this issue,” added Chamberlin. “We’ve had a lot of discussion and a lot of ideas, but the people are tired of talk and ready for action. If we end up with partial measures on the ballot this year, I will be supportive, but we cannot continue waiting for uncertain outcomes. This petition process is just what we need to make full and final elimination of property taxes a reality.”
###
