Gov. DeSantis vows veto: 'Florida last' tax cuts 'dead on arrival,' he says

Yahoo

07-05-2025

Gov. Ron DeSantis said May 7 he would veto a proposed cut to the state sales tax, claiming it would jeopardize his push for cuts to property taxes.
'Any 'Florida last' tax package is going to be dead on arrival,' he told reporters at an event in Tampa. 'We are not going to kneecap our ability to provide you property tax relief just so we can give a little bit of a benefit to Canadian tourists. That is not going to happen, so you can take that to the bank.'
The veto threat could upend what was called a 'framework' for a budget deal agreed to by House and Senate leaders, who failed to reach an agreement during the 60-day regular session that ended May 2. Lawmakers are set to return to Tallahassee May 12 to hammer out the details on a likely $115 billion budget.
But the framework includes a $1.6 billion cut to the state sales tax, lowering it from 6% to 5.75%. The total tax cut package would come to $2.8 billion, but what it will include is yet to be determined.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (left), House Speaker Daniel Perez.
DeSantis has been feuding with House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, since the start of the year on several issues, including tax cuts. While Perez originally pushed for a 0.75% cut to the sales tax, saving consumers about $5 billion, DeSantis has insisted on a property tax cut.
In a statement responding to DeSantis' remarks, Perez said lawmakers could cut the sales tax and property taxes and rejected the Governor's framing of the issue.
'I'm concerned about how confused the governor seems to be. He is threatening to veto the largest state tax cut in history, and his excuse is that it limits our ability to cut local property taxes? That's bizarre," Perez said. "We can cut the sales tax by the largest amount in the history of our country and place a ballot initiative on property taxes on the 2026 ballot. This isn't about whether we can do both – it's about whether we will."
After floating the idea of eliminating property taxes completely, but without a concrete plan to do so, DeSantis unveiled a proposal on March 31 at a conference with Florida Realtors in Orlando to provide up to $1,000 for homestead property owners.
Under that plan, the state would pay for the portion of property taxes that go to K-12 public schools, backfilling it with state money and giving homestead owners a rebate.
That would allow homeowners to get the rebate later this year, which would be faster than the normal route of property tax cuts, where the Legislature puts a measure on the ballot in 2026 and, if voters approve, homeowners would see the cuts in 2027.
More: The winners and losers (so far) of the 2025 Florida legislative session
But neither the House or the Senate included that plan in its budget, and it doesn't appear it will be part of talks between chambers next week.
Perez panned that plan in his statement, likening it to a proposal Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom would support: "I give the governor credit for starting this debate, but he's had months to produce an actual plan to lower property tax rates, and we're still waiting. An imaginary plan can't cut real taxes."
"The Governor's team would like to respond that they do have a plan: send $1,000 checks from the state treasury as a fake refund for local property taxes. In fairness, it is consistent with the governor's record. He likes these Newsom-style 'free' money giveaways. Giving away $1,000 checks in a way that doesn't actually lower property taxes isn't a Band-Aid much less a solution," Perez added.
The House advanced an alternative plan to use tourist development taxes to backfill a cut in property taxes next year, but the Senate is unlikely to accept that proposal as it also includes eliminating tourist development councils, which the tourist industry argues are needed to keep people flocking to the state.
The lack of action on property taxes has angered DeSantis, who dubbed Perez's chamber the 'House of Pettiness' at one point in the session.
DeSantis has emphasized that his property tax proposal would benefit Florida residents more, as opposed to a sales tax cut which he says would disproportionately help tourists.
In the 2021-22 budget year, state economists estimated that households paid 66% of sales taxes, with tourists paying 16% and businesses paying 18%. That was at a time when tourism was still rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic doldrums.
DeSantis also claimed a sales tax cut would be used by House leaders to claim there isn't enough revenue to pass property tax cuts.
'We're going in a tangent that is not going to help people in any meaningful way that are Florida residents but will put the final nail in the coffin of any hope to do property tax relief,' he said.
Perez, though, is standing by his sales tax cut.
"The House has negotiated a tax package that will put $30 billion back into the economy over the next ten years," Perez said. "If the Governor wants to veto that, he's welcome to explain to the voters why he thinks they do not deserve actual and meaningful tax relief. Maybe the truth is he just wants to spend all of it and be the only one who decides how.'
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [e-mail]. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Budget battle erupts: DeSantis torpedoes tax deal with veto threat