How Florida’s 2026 Property Tax Ballot Initiative Will Devastate Local Government And Send Even More Power To Tallahassee

It’s June, graduations are (nearly!) done, and Steph and Eddie are back to the work of podding. They begin the show talking about fundraisers, bittersweet improv shows, and the AT&T corporation. This week, they welcome Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents back to the podcast. Jason starts out by giving an overview of the opaque budget process in Tallahassee and then a primer on how devastating the new property tax ballot initiative could end up being if it is passed (13:46). Next they walk through some of the items that made it through this year’s budget and how it speaks to the broken/corrupt nature of our state legislature (36:05). They also touch the slow degradation of higher education in the state of Florida and how a bipartisan consensus on protecting our top universities has seemingly gone by the wayside (53:07). Finally, Jason fires off a couple of book recommendations and explains how he isn’t recharging but he really should (1:03:01). Seeking Rents Extracurricular Podcast Stephanie Vanos Eddie Geller