Florida Policy Institute (FPI) supports measures that help make the state a place where families can build a healthy future and where workers and businesses can thrive — a state where historical barriers to economic mobility have been removed so that everyone can share in widespread prosperity. FPI’s policy roadmap is a guide to achieving this vision through four central pillars:

• Fostering community well-being by investing in education and health
• Spurring sustainable growth by promoting equitable economic development, investing in smart infrastructure, and improving climate resilience
• Advancing shared prosperity by nurturing inclusive communities and building a strong safety net
• Cleaning up and modernizing the tax code for a stronger future        

These priorities are achievable through common-sense legislation. FPI’s legislative agenda for 2025, which is centered on the goals set forth in the roadmap, outlines the organization’s priorities for the upcoming session and indicates the policies that FPI supports or opposes.

Florida lawmakers can help grow an economy that generates broadly shared benefits across the state and in every community by undertaking the policy recommendations below.  

Healthy Communities

Fostering community well-being by investing in education and health

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: Expanding Medicaid to adults ages 19-64 with low income

Florida is one of only 10 states that have opted not to expand their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act to adults ages 19-64 with income under 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Medicaid expansion would help nearly 800,000 uninsured Floridians access coverage and help narrow existing disparities by race and ethnicity in access to health care.

Expanding Medicaid would also bring approximately $14.3 billion in new federal dollars to Florida over a five-year period. Researchers project state general revenue savings in the range of $198.9 million annually to $385 million over a five year period.  In addition, under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, if Florida chose to expand Medicaid it could access another $2.8 billion in federal dollars over the next two years.  The additional federal funding could go towards addressing other health priorities in the state, like access to providers.

FPI proudly serves on the executive committee of Florida Decides Healthcare, the ballot initiative for Medicaid expansion in Florida. FPI supports expanding the state’s Medicaid program. 

Key 2025 FPI Priority
OPPOSE: Federal cuts and harmful policy changes to Medicaid

FPI will oppose policies that seek to undermine, cut, and restrict access to Medicaid, including:

• ‍Benefits and eligibility cuts. Medicaid is a frequent target for cuts. In past years there have been proposals to cut benefits (such as adult hearing and vision services), eligibility, and coverage for young adults.

• Medicaid “work” requirements. FPI opposes adding overly onerous “work” requirements — also known as paperwork requirements — to Medicaid. Proposed in 2019, these policies create arbitrary barriers that are often impossible to overcome for many people on Medicaid. More than 80 percent of Florida Medicaid enrollees are children, seniors, and people with disabilities. The remainder are mostly very low-income parents/caretaker relatives of minor children and young adults, including those aging out of foster care. Sixty percent of adult Florida Medicaid enrollees are already working. Those who don’t work are primarily people with illnesses or disabilities, students, or caretakers for a family member.

• ‍Block granting or per capita caps for Medicaid. The idea of a federal block grant or per capita caps for Medicaid has been floated for many years as a cost containment strategy. However, these policies would significantly curtail the federal funds Florida receives in the future for Medicaid — a harmful prospect considering the state’s growing population. FPI will continue to oppose and push back against arbitrary funding limits like block grants and per capita caps for Medicaid. 

SUPPORT: Ending the five-year bar for Medicaid eligibility for pregnant immigrant mothers

The Legal Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act allows states to waive the five-year waiting period for lawfully residing children and pregnant women to be eligible for Medicaid. Florida, in 2016, passed the removal of the five-year waiting period for children. FPI urges lawmakers to join 31 other states including Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas to do the same for pregnant women, to improve the health of moms and babies in a time of stubbornly high infant and maternal mortality rates.

SUPPORT: State implementation of KidCare expansion

In 2023, the Florida Legislature passed an eligibility expansion for the state’s Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP), known as KidCare in Florida. The changes to KidCare will enable 42,000 children with household income between 200 and 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) to get coverage with lower premiums. This law was supposed to be implemented by January 1, 2024; however, it has been significantly delayed because of the DeSantis administration’s lawsuit regarding new federal protections implemented by the Biden administration in 2023. Even months into the Trump administration, however, the state has not dropped this lawsuit, leaving tens of thousands of children without care in Florida. FPI urges the DeSantis administration to drop the lawsuit and begin implementation, and the Florida Legislature to conduct oversight of the status of the implementation of the 2023 legislation. 

SUPPORT: Updating Medicaid coverage for comprehensive adult dental services

Related Bills: HB 975, SB 1048

It has been roughly two decades since the Florida Legislature adopted changes to the current, very restricted Medicaid adult dental benefit. The current benefit is limited to coverage of dentures and emergency services. This falls far short of meeting beneficiaries' needs.  A substantial body of research shows that oral health is essential to overall health. Poor oral health can worsen chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, lead to pregnancy complications, and contribute to increased emergency department visits. Medicaid already covers comprehensive dental benefits for children and youth. It is time to update Florida law to provide this coverage for adults as well.   

FPI supports legislation that will provide Medicaid coverage for comprehensive dental benefits for adults.

SUPPORT: Authorizing “dental therapists”

Related Bills: HB 21, SB 82

A new category of oral health practitioner — “dental therapists” — has been established in Minnesota, Maine, Vermont, Oregon, and Washington, while multiple other states are considering adding them to the oral health workforce. Studies have found numerous benefits to authorizing dental therapists: increased access to care and improved oral health outcomes for underserved populations, reductions in wait and travel time, and additional revenue injected into local economies.

FPI supports legislation that would authorize dental therapists as a new occupation.

SUPPORT: Increased, recurring, transparent mental health funding in the state budget

Mental Health of America recently ranked Florida 40th out of all the states on access to mental health care. It specifically noted that 516,000 Florida adults with mental illness are uninsured and 155,000 youth with major depression had unmet treatment needs. People of color, who have faced long-standing, systemic barriers to accessing affordable health and mental health care services, have been disproportionately impacted by Florida’s increasing rate of mental illness. 

Florida is over-reliant on time-limited, uncertain funding to support core services, and an extraordinarily fragmented administrative structure for distribution of and accountability for these dollars.

FPI supports increased, recurring, and more transparent state funding for mental health services.

SUPPORT: Significantly increasing eligibility for child care vouchers and extending voluntary pre-Kindergarten to cover eight hours

Related Bills: HB 21, SB 70

Child care is one of the largest expenses that Florida families face — the average cost of child care for a 4-year-old in Florida is $9,548 annually, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The average annual cost of infant care is $13,021. Florida’s School Readiness program provides subsidies for child care for low-income families; however, historically, less than half of eligible families in the state receive subsidies. Additionally, a labor shortage for child care teachers threatens the viability of Florida’s child care operations. 

FPI supports boosting funding and expanding eligibility for both School Readiness and the Voluntary Pre-K program in order to better serve more families.‍

SUPPORT: Instituting guardrails, transparency, and accountability to Florida’s private school voucher program

In 2023, state lawmakers approved a “universal” voucher program; as a result, approximately $4 billion is being rerouted from public schools to private education in the 2024-25 school year.

FPI opposes further expansion of the program and supports reinstituting income limits so that the wealthiest Floridians are not receiving taxpayer-funded vouchers. Additionally, FPI supports adding significant accountability and transparency measures to the current program so that Floridians and lawmakers have a clear understanding of where voucher funding is going and how it's being spent. 

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: Fully investing in K-12 public education and increasing teacher pay 

Florida recently received an “F” for per-pupil funding level — Florida’s is roughly $4,580 below the national average — in a national ranking of school funding fairness. Florida also received an “F” for its funding distribution, with high-poverty districts in the state getting an average of $1,849 less per pupil than low-poverty districts.

Fully investing in state funding for education provides the foundation for students to compete in an ever-changing economy, and it helps to attract highly qualified teachers and maintain the equity and fairness of Florida’s education system. Although much-needed increases in teacher pay were included in the past two budgets, Florida still ranks 50th in the nation for its average teacher pay of $53,098.  

FPI supports fully investing in K-12 education and boosting pay for new and veteran teachers.

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: Reinstatement of in-state tuition for Florida students without documented status (Dreamers)

In 2014, Florida’s then-Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill into law allowing students who are undocumented to pay in-state tuition rates if they graduated from a Florida high school and spent at least three consecutive years in Florida schools immediately before graduating. In February 2025, the Florida Legislature abruptly reversed course, and Gov. DeSantis signed a repeal of in-state tuition for Dreamer students in Florida. While these “waivers” only comprised a small amount of the state’s annual tuition and fee waiver distributions (6 percent, on average, over the 2017-2022 fiscal years), they made a tremendous difference to the 6,500+ immigrant students who received them. Many of these families cannot afford out-of-state tuition, which in Florida can be more than triple in-state tuition. Without the option to pay in-state tuition, these Floridians have few alternatives, and many might not attend college or university at all.

FPI supports reinstituting the 2014 law that allows Florida residents without documented immigration status (sometimes called Dreamers) to pay in-state tuition rates at Florida’s state colleges and universities.

A Thriving & Resilient Economy‍

Spurring sustainable growth by promoting equitable economic development, investing in smart infrastructure, and improving climate resilience 

Key 2025 FPI Priority
OPPOSE: Legislation rolling back child labor protections

Related Bills: HB 1225, SB 918

Florida’s Department of Education and Department of Business and Professional Regulation both emphasize that the state’s current child labor laws are meant to protect children’s health, workplace welfare, and education. In recent years, however, there has been a concerning trend whereby several states, including Arkansas and Iowa, have enacted measures undoing crucial child labor law protections. In Florida, FPI found that child labor violations nearly tripled from 2019 to 2022 (from 95 to 281), a 195.8 percent increase.

HB 1225/SB 918 would allow employers to schedule 16- and 17-year-olds for unlimited hours, without breaks, overnight, and for more than six days in a row — whether during school months or not. They would also allow employers to schedule 14- and 15-year-olds for unlimited hours without breaks if they are virtual school or homeschool students.

Workers — including teen workers — need added protections, not fewer. FPI opposes measures that roll back child labor protections and put children’s health, workplace welfare, and education at risk.

SUPPORT: Implementing “heat stress” protections for workers

People employed as farmworkers and construction workers are at particular risk for heat-related illness, despite being major drivers of the state economy. Heat stress is especially dangerous in Florida’s hot, subtropical climate and can be deadly. Florida should follow the lead of states like California and enact legislation mandating that employers in outdoor industries provide paid cooldown breaks/recovery periods, shade, and water for workers to help reduce incidents of heat stroke. Currently, there are no federal laws in place that mandate workers be granted these basic workplace protections.

SUPPORT: Creating a domestic workers bill of rights

An FPI report found that immigrants are over-represented in domestic work, especially in Florida. Three in five domestic workers in the state (60 percent) are immigrants, while immigrants comprise just 26 percent of other workers in Florida. This is more pronounced than on the national level, where a little over a third (35 percent) of the nation’s domestic workers are immigrants.

FPI urges Florida lawmakers to enact a state domestic workers bill of rights, as other states and cities have done, to provide domestic workers with much-needed protections under state law.

SUPPORT: Paid family and medical leave

Related Bills: SB 76

FPI supports the passage of a state law mandating paid family and medical leave for employees across Florida to ensure that all workers can take time off to care for themselves or their loved ones without risking financial hardship. Such policies promote economic stability for families and improve health outcomes. Paid parental leave, in particular, is critical for infant and maternal health, fostering early childhood development and allowing parents to bond with their newborns without financial strain. Florida lawmakers should take action to ensure that no parent has to choose between their job and their family’s well-being.

SUPPORT: Full funding of Florida Forever

Florida Forever is a critical program that allows the state to acquire and preserve ecologically important land and prevent future environmental problems. Florida Forever officially began in 2000 from a voter amendment to build on its predecessor program’s success (Preservation 2000). This authorized $300 million in bonds for 10 years to support land acquisition, ultimately leading to 1 million acres being preserved. The Florida Forever program was passed to appropriate another $300 million over 10 years; the Legislature appropriated it in full until 2008, when funding was then significantly reduced or eliminated.

In response, Florida voters approved a 2014 constitutional amendment designating new funding from the documentary stamp tax and expanding the duration of Florida Forever’s bonds through 2040. So far, these efforts have allowed Florida Forever to manage 870,000 acres of conservation land. However, the Florida Legislature continues to underfund Florida Forever, diverting funds intended for the program to pay for other state operating expenses. In recent years, appropriations have risen to over $100 million, which is a step in the right direction, but a far cry from the $300 million in annual funding originally intended for the program. 

FPI supports full funding of this crucial conservation fund at $300 million per year through at least 2040, as voters intended.

Shared Prosperity

Advancing shared prosperity by nurturing inclusive communities and building a strong safety net

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: Reducing occupational licensing and other reentry barriers for justice-involved individuals

Related Bills: HB 195, SB 472

Florida law prohibits people with certain criminal offenses in their background from obtaining occupational licenses, and occupational licensing boards can broadly factor criminal backgrounds into licensing decisions through “good character” provisions. This creates an arbitrary barrier for returning citizens to gaining access to dozens of occupations, increasing both financial insecurity and recidivism. 

Furthermore, studies have consistently shown that good-paying jobs help reduce the rate at which people return to prison. One way the Legislature can help alleviate the fiscal strain on the Department of Corrections (DOC) and boost economic opportunity for individuals after leaving incarceration is to improve the value of the educational programming they receive while in prison. The Correctional Education Program under the DOC offers 92 career and technical education courses in 37 vocational trades, including barbering, cosmetology, electrical contracting, landscaping, plumbing, and HVAC contracting. In FY 2022-23, 5,066 people completed and received certifications from these programs. DOC is already spending resources on these programs, and individuals are already accruing the training hours needed to apply for occupational licenses. However, these credits currently do not count toward the licensing requirements once individuals leave incarceration. This is an ineffective use of state resources. 

FPI supports legislative changes that would reduce barriers for returning citizens to obtain occupational licenses. HB 195 would allow credits earned to count toward licensing, creating an employment pipeline from incarceration to gainful employment.

SUPPORT: Eliminating juvenile fines and fees  

Fines and fees in the juvenile justice system trap children and their families in a cycle of debt. Youth who are justice-involved are more likely to re-offend and stay longer on probation. Furthermore, the assessed fees adversely impact the quality of life and future for youth, such as by presenting barriers to getting a driver’s license and participating in job corps programs.    

FPI supports ending court costs and fees on youth and providing additional support to young adults who remain in the care of the child welfare system.  

SUPPORT: Ending direct file of juveniles into the adult court system

Florida’s prosecutors transfer juveniles into adult courts at a higher rate than any other state. There is momentum to end what is called “direct file,” a statutory provision that allows prosecutors to decide whether a case will be tried in juvenile or adult court. The decision cannot be appealed or reviewed by a judge. In 2019, Florida lawmakers passed a moderate reform of the direct filing system; however, there is still work to be done.

FPI supports completely ending direct file so that judges have influence over whether a juvenile is tried in adult court.

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: Lifting the ban against certain justice-involved individuals receiving SNAP and TANF

Related Bills: HB 331, SB 828

People who are reentering their communities after being incarcerated face enormous barriers to fiscal stability. Yet, despite an overwhelming need for basic support to assist with rehabilitation, Floridians who have been convicted of drug trafficking are prohibited by state law from ever participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This short-sighted lifetime ban impacts their ability to meet critical needs, such as food and housing, and increases their likelihood to re-offend and return to prison. FPI supports legislation to repeal this policy.

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: State participation in the federal Summer EBT/SUN Bucks Program

In 2023, Congress established Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer, or Summer EBT/SUN Bucks, a food assistance program for children in families with low income. The program provides each eligible child a total of $120 (or $40 per month) in grocery assistance during the summer, when school is out, to supplement summer meal programs. In 2024, 36 states participated in Summer EBT, including Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Florida is not among the states administering a Summer EBT/SUN Bucks program for 2025. Summer EBT/SUN Bucks would likely provide over 2 million hungry children in Florida with roughly $259 million in federal food assistance. FPI urges Florida lawmakers to participate in this critical anti-hunger program for children. 

Key 2025 FPI Priority
OPPOSE: Policies that undermine or cut funding to TANF and SNAP

FPI will oppose any policy — state or federal — that undermines the impact, effectiveness, and/or intent of the SNAP and TANF programs.

In 2018, the Florida Legislature conducted a study of TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) Employment & Training (E&T) requirements and found that TANF recipients subject to work requirements face many barriers to compliance that result in sanctions. Those barriers include lack of transportation, no child care, and health problems. FPI opposes legislation that would lengthen the sanction period for people unable to comply with work requirements in the TANF E&T program.

FPI also opposes efforts to gut SNAP Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility, which would reduce the SNAP eligibility income limit from 200 percent to 130 percent of the federal poverty level, ending food assistance for 325,000 Floridians.

FPI opposes efforts to restrict food choice for SNAP participants. SNAP participants understand nutrition and want to serve healthy meals. However, many are hindered by inadequate benefit allotments, a lack of fresh produce in their neighborhoods, and family members who have food allergies or are picky eaters. To ensure that households are able to maintain a healthy diet, better strategies include allowing participants to buy hot and prepared foods, increasing how much money people can use in SNAP for healthy foods and beverages, and increasing benefit allotments for food and beverages, regardless of the nutritional value. 

FPI supports efforts to eliminate federal barriers that limit the ability of students to access SNAP if they are enrolled more than half time in institutions of higher learning  (i.e., college). Research suggests that hunger, which hinders long-term success, is prevalent among college students, particularly students of color, parents who are in school, and students with low income. 

SUPPORT: Repealing the “family cap” for TANF

Florida is one of a dwindling number of states that have not yet repealed the “family cap,” an antiquated law that cuts assistance for newborns in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. TANF is the only statewide program in Florida that provides temporary cash assistance to meet basic needs of children living with parents in financial crisis. Currently in Florida, if a family receives TANF for one child, Florida cuts by 50 percent the amount of assistance the household would otherwise receive for a second child. Further, the family cap law denies all financial assistance to any subsequent children. Unless the parent is incarcerated or institutionalized — or the family can prove that the baby is the result of rape, incest, or sexual exploitation — the state will never provide cash assistance to help support that child. Repealing the state’s family cap law would provide families struggling to make ends meet with critical resources to help give their babies a better life.

FPI supports repealing Florida’s antiquated “family cap” law, as other states — like Tennessee and Georgia — have recently done.

SUPPORT: Increasing the maximum monthly TANF benefit

The TANF program provides temporary cash assistance to families with very low income to help parents take care of their children during an upheaval in their lives. In Florida, almost 95 percent of all TANF recipients are children. 

Florida’s maximum TANF benefit for a three-person family is $303 a month, which is only about 14 percent of the poverty level.  Although one-third of states have increased TANF benefits in recent years, Florida has not provided any increase to cash assistance since 1992.

SUPPORT: Reforming Florida’s broken unemployment insurance system

Florida’s unemployment insurance system, the Reemployment Assistance (RA) program, has been broken for years, and recently had been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FPI supports reforms including (but not limited to): increasing the maximum weekly benefit rate, which is only $275/week, and reforming the formula used to restrict the amount of assistance that a worker can receive; increasing the minimum duration of benefits from 12 to 26 weeks; increasing program reach and impact; and fully funding the RA system. 

An Equitable Tax Code

Cleaning up and modernizing the tax code for a stronger future

SUPPORT: Implementing greater oversight of tax expenditures

Florida is spending $25.7 billion in FY 2024-2025 on tax expenditures. Unlike spending through the budget, which is subject to annual review, debate, and reauthorization, spending through the tax code is not routinely evaluated to ensure it is delivering on objectives that support the state’s families, communities, and economy. Once enacted, these expenditures tend to remain in law without an expiration date or regular review. 

FPI supports requiring policymakers to: (1) include in every future tax expenditure legislation a clear outline of the public policy goal and who it is meant to benefit; and (2) specify an expiration and re-evaluation date. Tax expenditure reform should also require the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) and the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to regularly evaluate tax expenditures to determine how successful they have been in achieving their objectives and include recommendations to be consider upon re-evaluation. These recommendations should be included in the annual budget presentation for the governor, House, and Senate.

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: Implementing a Working Floridians Tax Rebate (state EITC)

Related Bills: HB 1331, SB 1158

The federal Earned Income Tax Credit is already one of the nation’s most effective tools for reducing poverty and countering income inequality. In 2021, more than 2.6 million Floridians received $5.5 billion through the federal EITC, with the average credit amount totaling $2,088. The federal EITC is a common-sense tax break that helps people with low income make ends meet, which benefits their families, communities, and local economies.

In 2023, 31 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and localities such as New York City and Montgomery County, Maryland, had their own versions of the EITC to further build on the success of the federal EITC.

FPI supports legislation that would provide a Working Floridians Tax Rebate (a state-level EITC) set at 20 percent of the federal credit.

SUPPORT: Reforming internet sales tax earmarks

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018 allows states to actively collect sales tax for online sales in their state, even if the seller has no physical location within the state. 

In 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill to modernize the collection of online sales taxes — a measure expected to generate about $1 billion annually. Unfortunately, the legislation devotes the new revenue to replenishing the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund and reducing the tax on commercial rentals from 5.5 percent to 2 percent. In effect, the bill cancels out any revenue gains from modernizing online sales tax collection. Instead of giving businesses a tax break, policymakers should direct new revenue into the General Revenue Fund.

FPI supports legislation to stop earmarking online sales tax revenue (about $1 billion) to offset tax breaks for businesses and instead using the funds to invest in public services.

Key 2025 FPI Priority
SUPPORT: Combined reporting

Currently, corporations can avoid paying Florida’s Corporate Income Tax (CIT) by shifting profits off to other entities in tax havens such as Delaware, Ireland, or the Cayman Islands (e.g., via the trademark income-shifting loophole). Florida should require these corporations to add together profits of all subsidiaries, regardless of their location into one combined report. This measure, known as worldwide combined reporting, would generate nearly $2.4 billion annually.

From 2021 through 2024, combined reporting has been introduced, either as a bill or an amendment, every regular session. So far, it has not yet passed.

FPI supports legislation to enact combined reporting without conditions to offset other taxes.

OPPOSE: New cuts in the FY 2025-26 tax bill‍

Every year, policymakers prepare a tax bill that includes numerous provisions designed to provide tax changes for both families and businesses. However, these changes typically involve tax reductions and credits, many of which hamper the state’s ability to invest in public services. Policymakers are required by law to keep a balanced state budget, which means that they must make up any forgone revenue either through spending cuts or future tax increases. The 2024-25 tax cut package totaled $827 million in one-time (or non-recurring) tax changes, plus $87 million in recurring expenses. Sales tax holidays cost the state $289 million, which are costly and ineffective tools to help Floridians. If policymakers are serious about making changes to the tax code, they must do so without sacrificing public investments.

FPI opposes future tax bills that lead to forgone revenue and, in effect, put investments in Florida’s future at risk. 

Key 2025 FPI Priority
OPPOSE: A legislatively referred ballot question to end property taxes.

Related Bills: SB 852

FPI opposes adding a legislatively referred ballot question to eliminate property taxes, as such a measure would severely undermine local governments’ ability to fund essential services. Property taxes are a primary revenue source for local entities, supporting critical functions like public education, emergency services, and infrastructure maintenance. In a February 2025 report, FPI found that eliminating this tax would create a revenue shortfall of approximately $43 billion, necessitating substantial cuts to vital services or the implementation of additional sales taxes. FPI found that implementing additional sales taxes to make up the difference would necessitate increasing the state sales tax from 6 percent to 12 percent – a 100 percent increase. This would disproportionately impact low- and middle-income residents and dampen consumer spending. Property taxes provide a stable and predictable revenue stream, essential for effective budget planning and maintaining local autonomy. FPI considers the elimination of property taxes a risky proposition that would weaken the foundation of local governance and public service provision.