Power of the purse

Abolishing property taxes sounds liberating. No more paying perpetual rent to the government just to keep your home. However, we need to confront a deeper issue: representation.

Florida has nearly 23 million residents and just 120 House members and 40 Senators. That means one state representative speaks for about 190,000 people; one state senator represents nearly 575,000. That is not a citizen legislature. It is centralized management.

When fiscal power centralizes, representation must expand.

New Hampshire, with 1.4 million residents, has 400 House members. Each representative speaks for roughly 3,500 people. Floridians deserve more access, smaller districts and lawmakers who are neighbors instead of distant political brands. “No taxation without representation” still matters.

If Tallahassee wants more control over our tax dollars, it must expand legislative representation accordingly. Otherwise, South Florida, having been long underrepresented despite driving the state’s economy, should reconsider whether it is better served as its own state.

Hector Roos,
Chair,
Libertarian Party of Miami-Dade County

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Also published to the Miami Herald Opinion Section.