Florida’s 2026 governor’s race added a tax proposal on September 20, when independent candidate Frank J. Russo said he would pursue a new 9.9% Florida personal-income tax on taxable personal income above $1 million. According to West Orlando News, the plan would leave the first $1 million of taxable personal income untaxed under the proposed state levy and dedicate revenue to a restricted trust for specified state priorities.
What Changed
Russo’s campaign is calling the proposal the Florida Future Reinvestment plan. Under the framework described, Florida would impose a 9.9% marginal tax only on taxable personal income above the $1 million threshold. The campaign’s example said that an individual with $1.2 million of taxable personal income would owe the Florida tax only on the $200,000 above the threshold.
That produces a straightforward marginal-tax calculation: 9.9% of $200,000, or $19,800. For high earners, that means the proposal is structured as a surcharge above a stated threshold rather than a tax on the entire income amount.
The campaign also said revenue would be placed in a legally restricted Florida Future Reinvestment Trust rather than an unrestricted general pool. The stated concept includes defined eligible uses, anti-diversion protections, public reporting, independent audits and public accounting of collections, allocations and results.
Who Is Affected
As described, the proposal is aimed at households with more than $1 million of taxable personal income. That puts the direct tax impact on a relatively narrow group of high-income Florida residents, though the campaign also said further work would be needed on definitions of taxable income and residency, enforcement rules and protections against unintended effects on legitimate business activity.
That last point matters for affluent families, founders and owners of pass-through businesses. The campaign said detailed legislation would include a “small-business firewall” intended to protect legitimate pass-through business operations, investment and job creation from unintended burdens. Still, the plan does not yet appear to include published statutory language, so the exact treatment of pass-through income, residency tests and enforcement mechanics has not been published.
The proposal also is not ready for implementation on its own terms. The campaign said it would require constitutional authorization and approval from Florida voters before taking effect. That means households affected by the proposal are looking at an early political position, not an enacted tax change.
The After-Tax Math
Because the proposal is framed as a marginal tax above $1 million, the key planning question is how much taxable personal income falls over that line in a given year. The campaign provided one example, and the math scales from there.
| Example taxable personal income | Amount above $1 million | Proposed 9.9% Florida tax |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000,000 | $0 | $0 |
| $1,200,000 | $200,000 | $19,800 |
| $1,500,000 | $500,000 | $49,500 |
| $2,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $99,000 |
Example: an individual with $2 million of taxable personal income would have $1 million above the threshold, producing $99,000 of proposed Florida tax at a 9.9% marginal rate. That is illustrative math based on the rate and threshold described by the campaign. It is not a projection of enacted law.
For executives, investors and business owners, the term “taxable personal income” would be the central technical issue if the idea advanced. The campaign said definitions of taxable income still would need to be developed through legislation and legal review. Until that happens, the proposal’s practical interaction with wages, capital gains, pass-through profits and part-year residency has not been published.
What the Revenue Would Fund
The campaign said revenue would be dedicated to several stated priorities: housing affordability and first-time homebuyers, teachers and the education workforce, nurses and essential healthcare workers, trades and apprenticeships, and retraining tied to automation and artificial intelligence.
It also said the trust would be subject to anti-diversion rules, independent audits and a public dashboard so Floridians could see what was collected, where it went and what measurable results it produced. In the campaign’s framing, the proposal is meant to pair a high-income surtax with legal restrictions on how the money is used.
One short quote captures the pitch: “9.9% only on taxable personal income above $1 million,” Russo said.
What to Watch Next
The next issue is not tax collection but legal and political feasibility. The campaign said implementation would require constitutional authorization, voter approval, detailed legislation, legal review, definitions of taxable income and residency, and protections against unintended effects on legitimate business activity.
For affluent households in Florida, that means the proposal is worth watching as a state-tax development, but it remains preliminary. Nothing in the announcement indicates that the tax is enacted, scheduled to begin or accompanied by final legislative text. Households with exposure to Florida residency, large year-end income events or pass-through business income may want to follow whether the campaign releases more detailed language and whether the proposal gains broader political support.
In the meantime, the practical after-tax takeaway is narrow but clear: the plan, as announced, would impose a 9.9% Florida marginal tax only on taxable personal income above $1 million, subject to constitutional authorization and voter approval. For now, that is a campaign proposal rather than current Florida law.
Sources
- First reported Independent Candidate for Florida Governor Proposes Millionaire Tax — West Orlando News
- The Independent — Wikipedia
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