Whenever government officials talk about tax cuts, there’s a familiar refrain: “It’s only a dollar per person.” That’s how some Jacksonville leaders are framing the proposed $13 million property tax cut — as if saving a buck a month for the average homeowner is inconsequential.
This is insulting. It ignores the reality of how taxes and fees actually weigh on families. For taxpayers, it’s never just a dollar. It’s dollars layered on dollars, fee stacked on fee, until the cumulative burden becomes very real.
Consider just a few examples for the typical Jacksonville household:
- Property taxes: The average homeowner’s bill has risen by nearly $900 over the past five years, as higher valuations outpaced the city’s small rate reductions. That’s $15–20 more every month — not “symbolic,” but a real chunk of a mortgage check.
- Sales tax: At 7.5 percent in Duval County, families pay thousands every year. A household spending $35,000 annually on taxable goods and services hands over about $2,600 in sales tax — more than a month’s rent for many.
- Utilities and stormwater fees: JEA bills routinely top $250 a month. Built into that are “modest” charges like stormwater fees, franchise fees, and surcharges that tack on $20–30 each cycle. Multiply that by 12 months, and it’s another $300+ a year.
- Licenses and local fees: Car tags, building permits, garbage fees, school activity fees — they’re always pitched as small, one-off charges. But for a family of four, these routine costs often add another $500–600 annually.
That’s already more than $4,000 a year in taxes and fees — and that’s before factoring in state gas taxes, federal payroll taxes, or the next “it’s only a dollar” idea from City Hall.
Now, look again at that $13 million property tax cut. Spread across Jacksonville’s 950,000 residents, it might sound like “just a dollar.” But for a family of four, that’s closer to $50 a year. For 50,000 families, that’s $2.5 million staying in household budgets. For the entire city, it’s $13 million less government takes and $13 million more left with the people who earned it.
That’s not trivial. That’s groceries, gas, utilities, medicine, school supplies — real things for real people.
City Hall sees budgets in billions. Taxpayers live in reality, where margins are tight and every symbol matters. What officials dismiss as insignificant is precisely the point: if government truly respected the people it serves, it would stop minimizing their dollars.
Because here’s the truth: all those “small” dollars taken by government over decades have piled up into big burdens. When leaders finally give even a few of those dollars back, the last thing taxpayers want to hear is that it doesn’t matter.
It’s not “just a dollar.” It’s proof that taxpayers come first.