Government Must Earn The People’s Trust

Florida is a success story, and it did not happen by accident. Since COVID, Miami and the greater region, as well as the state, have experienced a transformation that rivals anything in modern American economic history. Population growth, corporate relocations, new business formation: by every measure, the Free State of Florida is not just thriving, it is becoming a cornerstone of America's new economy.

That momentum reflects a consistent policy framework that prioritized freedom, reduced regulatory burdens, and gave businesses and families a reason to choose Florida over anywhere else. That is worth celebrating. But more important, it is also worth protecting.

Despite our successes public confidence in government institutions continues to fall, and a meaningful share of that erosion is self-inflicted. The same economic boom that has made Florida the envy of the nation has filled government coffers to historic levels. Property tax receipts, sales tax collections, documentary stamp revenue: by nearly every fiscal metric, government has never had more of our money.

And yet the average taxpayer paying record taxes is not seeing record services. We are over-taxed and under-served. The family paying a mortgage, the small business owner, the retiree watching their tax bill climb, are all asking a reasonable question -- if times are this good, why am I paying more and not getting more in return?

Why are we not talking about reducing or even eliminating certain taxes given the conditions we are in? That is not an anti-government argument. It is a legitimate accountability argument, and it demands a serious answer.

The credibility problem has a consistent diagnosis. No-bid contracts steered to campaign donors with no relevant expertise. Discretionary funds flowing to friends and family with no legitimate work trail and no verifiable work product. Budgets growing at multiples of inflation and population growth, with no corresponding improvement in core services. Legal settlements and legal fees for outrageous behavior by elected officials.

While Tallahassee has worked hard to model fiscal discipline, that discipline has not always filtered down to county commissions and city halls, and that is exactly where taxpayer money is most directly at stake. Good times do not inoculate political institutions against waste and abuse; they enable it, because the money flows freely and scrutiny relaxes. That is precisely when vigilance matters most.

This is why transparency and accountability initiatives are not political exercises; they are essential acts of institutional repair. Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia has launched the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight, known as FAFO, and conducted audit tours across the state. The results are hard to ignore. After reviewing just eleven local governments, his team identified more than $1.86 billion in wasteful and excessive spending.

These are not abstract federal figures. These are your county commissions and city governments, funded directly by your property tax bills. CFO Ingoglia is now pushing to codify FAFO into state statute as a permanent initiative, requiring local governments to submit annual financial efficiency reports, publish all contracts in a searchable centralized system, and extending whistleblower protections to anyone who reports abuse of public funds.

His framing is exactly right: protecting taxpayers should not have an expiration date, and neither should FAFO. Similar logic applies to federal-level efforts like Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The debate around methodology is fair, but the premise, that the public deserves a rigorous and honest accounting of how their money is spent, should not be controversial. It is foundational.

Beneath all of this is the question that every serious policymaker must be willing to confront -- what is government for? What is its appropriate size? What are its core functions, and where does it have no business operating?

Florida has a strong economy, a record of smart governance, and the credibility to lead this conversation nationally. But that advantage is not permanent. Institutional trust, once lost, is extraordinarily hard to rebuild. Efforts like FAFO are how you keep it, not just as a matter of fiscal policy, but as a matter of democratic legitimacy.

Growth and opportunity are what brought people here.

Trust is what keeps them and keeps building something worth staying for.