2015 How Florida Compares: Taxes

Florida has always had the reputation of being a low tax state. While this common perception is borne out by the newest available data contained in this report, the full picture is more complicated. Florida’s state tax collections per capita is among the lowest in the nation, higher than only New Hampshire and Georgia (see p. 21), but when all state and local “own source revenues” are included, providing a more complete picture of overall government revenues, Florida ranks 36th nationally per capita (see p. 8). 

Whatever the metric of government revenues, whether tax collections or own source revenues, when local revenues are included in the calculation, Florida’s comparative ranking is higher than when only state revenues are compared. Florida’s “Per Capita State Own Source Revenue” ranking is 49th (see p. 20), whereas Florida’s combined “Per Capita State & Local Own Source Revenue” ranking is 36th (see p. 8); and Florida’s “Total Per Capita State Tax Collections” ranking is 48th (see p. 21), whereas Florida’s “Per Capita State & Local Tax Collections” ranking is 44th (see p. 11). 

However, falling property values in Florida led to a five- year, 23 percent decrease in property tax collections, causing Florida’s local tax collections ranking to fall as well (see p. 42).