{"id":79394,"date":"2026-09-11T20:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=79394"},"modified":"2026-09-11T20:18:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:18:04","slug":"how-commissioner-bill-braswell-plans-to-swap-healthcare-and-infrastructure-taxes-to-offset-property-tax-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/09\/11\/how-commissioner-bill-braswell-plans-to-swap-healthcare-and-infrastructure-taxes-to-offset-property-tax-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"How Commissioner Bill Braswell Plans to Swap Healthcare and Infrastructure Taxes to Offset Property Tax Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell proposed replacing an existing half-cent indigent healthcare sales tax with a 1% infrastructure sales tax<\/strong> to help offset potential property tax revenue losses.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem: Anticipated Revenue Shortfall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Amendment 3 passes on the Florida ballot, Polk County projects it could lose roughly $135 million<\/strong> out of the $400 million it currently collects in property taxes.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Proposal: Tax Restructuring<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Healthcare Tax Swap:<\/strong> The county currently collects a half-cent indigent healthcare sales tax ($80M\u2013$90M annually) that serves about 1% to 2% of the population and holds around $100 million in reserves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 1% Infrastructure Tax:<\/strong> Replacing the healthcare tax with a 1% infrastructure sales tax would generate approximately $180 million<\/strong> annually.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Shifting the Burden:<\/strong> Because sales taxes are also paid by visitors, tourists, and commuters, Commissioner Braswell estimates that local property owners would see a net reduction in tax impact\u2014noting a homeowner currently paying $1,000 in property tax might pay closer to $250 to $300 under the sales tax model instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Challenges & Next Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • State Restrictions:<\/strong> Current Florida law restricts infrastructure sales tax revenue to capital projects rather than general operating expenses, so state legislative adjustments or rule flexibility may be required.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Timeline:<\/strong> Whether Amendment 3 passes or fails, county commissioners would need to vote on placing the sales tax proposal on a ballot. Under Florida rules limiting sales tax referendums to general election years, local voters wouldn’t formally vote on the referendum until 2028<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell proposed replacing an existing half-cent indigent healthcare sales tax with a 1% infrastructure sales tax to help offset potential property tax revenue losses. The Problem:… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDZcL0JpbGwtQnJhc3dlbGwud2VicD9maXQ9MTYwJTJDMjA3JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiSG93IENvbW1pc3Npb25lciBCaWxsIEJyYXN3ZWxsIFBsYW5zIHRvIFN3YXAgSGVhbHRoY2FyZSBhbmQgSW5mcmFzdHJ1Y3R1cmUgVGF4ZXMgdG8gT2Zmc2V0IFByb3BlcnR5IFRheCBMb3NzZXMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.JZm8SCEMnt1EevTURyzqxJJSYw3RKJJuEGOOcV4qoQYMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjVcLzA2XC9CaWxsLUJyYXN3ZWxsLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJIb3cgQ29tbWlzc2lvbmVyIEJpbGwgQnJhc3dlbGwgUGxhbnMgdG8gU3dhcCBIZWFsdGhjYXJlIGFuZCBJbmZyYXN0cnVjdHVyZSBUYXhlcyB0byBPZmZzZXQgUHJvcGVydHkgVGF4IExvc3NlcyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.jpOwdyWBLxT5mCxrifBSyw8DWpTghfnm9r-1p1wzVokMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[15959,15287,17052,17045,17044,17053,17051,17043,15533,17054],"class_list":["post-79394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-bill-braswell","tag-florida-amendment-3","tag-florida-tax-reform","tag-indigent-healthcare-tax","tag-infrastructure-sales-tax","tag-local-government-spending","tag-polk-county-budget","tag-polk-county-property-tax","tag-property-tax-relief","tag-sales-tax-referendum"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79396,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79394\/revisions\/79396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}