The former speaker of the Florida House is traveling the state as part of his "Affordability Now" tour.
The rising cost of everything — from housing to insurance to the price of gas — is on the minds of a lot of people. And Paul Renner says it will be the centerpiece of his campaign for governor.
Renner stopped at Friend's Plumbing in Oldsmar last Thursday to ask people what's stressing them out financially.
Renner said he's been focusing on affordability issues like the rising cost of property taxes since the beginning of his campaign for governor. He wants a special session on property tax reform.
"This is more to try to get people's feedback on, OK, if we were going to do something here in the case of property taxes, what would you like to see," he asked. "Do you agree that these people should continue to pay taxes, or these people should not? Should we include renters? Should we include small businesses? What does that look like to make it fair?"
At the plumbing company, he told a handful of people his ideas for controlling galloping prices. Number one, he says, is to call a special session to roll back property taxes. Something which lawmakers have been hesitant to do.
"So this opportunity is about to be squandered unless the legislature does what it's failed to do for a year and a half, which is heed the governor's request to do something bold on property taxes, and he can't do it," Renner said. "So they've got to do something and they've failed to do it so far."
Renner has a tough climb in his quest for governor. President Trump has endorsed one of his opponents, Byron Donalds, in the Republican primary.
His tour continues this week, with stops Monday in Crawfordville,
Tuesday in Orlando, Wednesday in Jacksonville and Friday in Pensacola.
