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Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. DeSantis: Property tax relief, not sales tax cuts, is Florida's priority
Instead of a $5 billion cut in sales taxes as proposed by House Speaker Daniel Perez, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said he wants to provide a $1,000 tax break to all homestead property owners in the state. 'People are not clamoring for sales tax: They're clamoring for property tax relief. There's no property tax relief in that proposal,' DeSantis said at a conference of the Florida Realtors in Orlando. Sales tax cuts also would help tourists who visit and spend in Florida, not just Florida residents, something that a cut aimed at homestead property owners would achieve, he added. 'I want Canadian tourists and Brazilian tourists subsidizing the state and making it so Florida residents pay less taxes,' DeSantis said. 'I don't want to give Canadians a tax cut.' Last week, Perez, R-Miami, said his chamber will move forward with a plan to cut Florida's sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, saving consumers collectively about $5 billion per year. The bill isn't yet public, but the $113 billion House budget released Friday is built around that plan. That measure isn't part of the Senate's spending plan, which is $117.4 billion, or $4.4 billion more than the House's plan. The two chambers will pass their respective budgets off the floor next week before entering negotiations on a final spending plan. The sides much reach a deal before May 2, the last day of the legislative session, to avoid a special session. Such a large sales tax cut could preclude DeSantis' push for a large tax cut directed at homesteaded properties to be placed on the 2026 ballot. DeSantis said he wouldn't veto a sales tax cut, but insists on property taxes being reduced. One of the main differences between the two plans is the Legislature can reduce the sales tax on its own, while main methods to cut property taxes – either through an increase in the homestead exemption or imposing stricter caps on annual assessment increases – can only be done by changing the state's constitution. Bills to put large property tax cuts on the 2026 ballot, however, haven't advanced in the Legislature. A measure (SB 1018) from Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, to increase the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $75,000 and a bill (HB 357) from Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, R-Belleview, to create a $100,000 exemption on all properties in the state haven't received a hearing. Even if the bills were to pass, the proposal would require 60% of voter approval in November 2026, and wouldn't take effect until 2027. To provide more immediate property tax relief, DeSantis wants to eliminate the state portion that contributes to property taxes: The piece that goes to public schools, known as the required local effort (RLE). Under DeSantis' plan, state reserves would be used to backfill the elimination of the RLE for one year, and lawmakers would be required to provide a $1,000 cut to homestead property owners. DeSantis said the proposal was just the 'opening salvo' in the push to get a greater property tax cut on the 2026 ballot. Democrats, stuck in superminority status in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, are tentatively supportive of the cut in sales taxes but want to see more specifics before committing support to Perez's plan. 'Our caucus has probably forever talked about the sales tax as a very regressive policy,' House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa told reporters last week. 'We understand that we don't have a state income tax and we need to hear more details about where he plans to make up this $5 billion in revenue that we're cutting.' Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@ Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida sales tax cut or property tax relief? DeSantis takes a stand
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
At DOGE presser, DeSantis again floats concept of ending property taxes in Florida
A housing development in Kissimmee. A proposed state constitutional amendment would increase Florida's homestead exemption for property taxes. (Photo by) Gov. Ron DeSantis' plan for a Florida version of Elon Musk's 'Department of Government Efficiency' to root out excessive government spending would include auditing local governments budgets. And in the future, the governor mused on Monday, the state could at some point outright eliminate the ability of those local governments to collect property taxes. 'I think that a lot of these local budgets have ballooned in recent years,' DeSantis said while speaking at the Vault in downtown Tampa. 'I think that there's been a lot of spending. I don't know that the taxpayers have always had a seat at the table. I don't know that the visibility on how the money has been spent has been very good. But we're going to find out.' DeSantis said his 'DOGE' state task force would investigate local government expenditures using publicly available county and municipal spending records to provide such information 'in a digestible way for the taxpayers throughout the state of Florida.' The governor said he has been in talks with House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton about enacting legislation to grant the DOGE team enforcement power 'so that these municipalities and counties have to comply' with audits using artificial intelligence over the next year. The Florida DOGE program would eliminate a net of at least 740 state positions and more than 70 state boards and commissions that audit state universities and local governments. He also wants to scrutinize programs as public colleges and universities. While not part of the DOGE plan, the governor went on to expand on comments he made on social media last week about escalating property taxes. He began by explicitly reminding the public that it's not the state that holds power to raise such taxes, but in fact local governments, which can tax more when the assessed values of homes increase. 'The reality is, you don't really know how much your home is worth until someone offers you money and is willing to pull the trigger on a sale,' the governor said. 'That's how a market works. You can say it's worth this much, but if no one's going to come and offer you that much, why should you pay taxes on that?' A bill (SB 852) has already been filed going into the 2025 legislative session by Lee County Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin that would require the Office of Economic and Demographic Research to study the elimination of property taxes. To do that, the measure would have to go before state voters in a constitutional amendment and win approval of 60% of voters. The governor said that Florida's homestead property tax exemption, which can reduce the assessed value of a homeowner's residence by as much as $50,000, can't provide enough protections for homeowners (separately, a proposal Hernando County Republican state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (SB 1018) introduced on Monday would increase the homestead tax exemption to $75,000 of assessed valuation for all levies). DeSantis added that the idea of 'ponying up money to the government just for the courtesy of using your own property' is a different type of tax than any other, comparing it unfavorably to the immediate one-time tax a consumer pays when purchasing an item. He did not discuss what sources would need to be tapped to make up for that loss of revenue. The idea of eliminating property taxes isn't going over well with some local elected officials and policy research groups. 'Maybe the worst idea of the year to come out of Tallahassee,' Tampa City Council member Luis Veira said last week after DeSantis floated the proposal. 'Local property taxes fund your firefighters, fire stations, police officers, and other public safety measures. They fund stormwater infrastructure improvements. And they help fund your public schools,' Viera wrote on his Facebook page. 'Replacing property taxes with sales taxes would be a punitive hit on the vulnerable through a tax that is even more regressive.' If the voters eliminate property taxes in Florida, policymakers would need to raise $43 billion to maintain public services now funded with property tax revenue, according to the Florida Policy Institute in a report issued Monday. The governor noted that Florida's homestead property tax exemption can't provide enough protections for homeowners. 'Property taxes are skyrocketing, and Floridians are demanding relief,' Ingoglia said in a written statement about his legislation. 'The current homestead exemption doesn't cut it anymore. That's why I'm filing for a new $75,000 homestead exemption that will be adjusted for inflation every year. When your home value goes up, so does your exemption. If approved by the voters, it will be the largest property tax cut in the history of Florida at $2.6B.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
