FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 4, 2025
CONTACT: Christina Johnson
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) released The Taxpayers’ Guide to Florida’s FY2025-26 State Budget, providing an overview of Florida’s Fiscal Year 2025-26 state budget, which was passed by the Florida Legislature during the 2025 Legislative Session and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on June 30, 2025. The 2025 Legislature appropriated a total of $114.8 billion for the new fiscal year, a reduction of $3.8 billion (3.2 percent) from FY2024-25 spending. This is the first significant year-to-year reduction in appropriations since FY2011-12. This is due to a reduction of more than $2 billion in both federal funds and trust fund spending. Surprisingly, state general revenue (GR) appropriations increased. This is especially true of recurring GR appropriations, which increased by almost $2 billion.
Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro said, “Florida TaxWatch commends the Legislature for providing $2.1 billion in tax relief, especially the elimination of the Business Rent Tax, an anti-competitive tax that is unique to Florida. This has been a longstanding top Florida TaxWatch priority. Our 10-plus years of research on the topic led to the BRT tax rate being reduced from 6.0 percent to 2.0 percent and ultimately to its final elimination. This final cut will save all businesses that rent Florida property a total of $1.5 billion annually.”
Florida TaxWatch Executive Vice President and General Counsel Jeff Kottkamp said, “Florida TaxWatch also commends the Governor and the Legislature for their commitment to reducing outstanding state debt. Florida has retired $7.3 billion in tax-supported debt since 2019. The new budget has a provision to use $580 million to continue this effort. In addition, this Legislature created the Debt Reduction Program that will use $250 million annually for accelerated debt reduction.
“In addition to explaining this year’s budget and detailing the highlights, this guide also provides past data for historical context. We trust this annual Budget Guide gives elected officials, policymakers, staff members, the media, and all taxpayers the information needed to better understand where and how Floridians’ hard-earned tax dollars are being spent.”
The new budget contains approximately 1,700 earmarked, mostly local, member projects, worth well over $2.5 billion. The Florida TaxWatch annual Budget Turkey Watch Report identified 238 of these appropriations totaling $413.5 million that qualify as “Budget Turkeys” and highlighted $799.5 million additional projects that merited close gubernatorial review. More than half of the items vetoed by the Governor were highlighted in the Budget Turkey Watch Report.
The General Appropriations Act (GAA) as passed by the Legislature had a bottom line of $115.1 billion. The Governor cut 471 appropriations, lowering the budget total by $376 million. He also vetoed some budget transfers and trust fund sweeps which are not appropriations and do not reduce spending. Adding $57.7 million in appropriations made in general bills, the net total of the new budget is $114.8 billion.
This Budget Guide, along with an extensive portfolio of research and analyses, can be found on FTW’s Florida Budget Hub.
About Florida TaxWatch
As an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog and taxpayer research institute, and the trusted “eyes and ears” of Florida taxpayers for more than 45 years, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) works to improve the productivity and accountability of Florida government. Its research recommends productivity enhancements and explains the statewide impact of fiscal and economic policies and practices on taxpayers and businesses. FTW is supported by its membership via voluntary, tax-deductible donations and private grants. Donations provide a solid, lasting foundation that has enabled FTW to bring about a more effective, responsive government that is more accountable to, and productive for, the taxpayers it has served since 1979. For more information, please visit www.FloridaTaxWatch.org.
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