Gov. Ron DeSantis’ aim to reduce property taxes throughout the state reached a new development Monday, as he revealed a proposal for immediate homestead relief instead of a proposed sales tax cut that’s currently making its way through the state Legislature.
The governor’s plan could net Floridians a $1,000 property tax cut per homestead. During a press conference at the Florida Realtors building in Orlando, DeSantis said local governments benefit from rising house assessment prices at the expense of the state’s mobile workforce.
He called property tax collection “an anomaly” and critiqued the practice as invasive of private property ownership.
“You effectively are wards of the local government,” he said. “Because you’re having to pay rent to them just to be able to exercise your basic rights to own and enjoy property.”
Florida Realtors President Tim Weisheyer said the governor’s plan would help with the affordability of homeowning and preservation of the “American dream.” The group is made up of 240,000 realtors.
DeSantis shared his proposal days after state House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican from Miami, proposed a cut in sales tax from 6% to 5.25%. Slashing the state sales tax would save taxpayers about $5 billion a year.
One of the governor’s greatest gripes with a sales tax cut is the potential benefit for foreign tourists. They, too, would see savings from a reduced tax.
Instead, DeSantis called for an option that allows some Florida residents to see a tax cut at the expense of foreign tourists.
“I don’t want to give Canadians a tax cut,” he said.
He proposed for foreign travelers to subsidize the state after the reductions in property taxes, although he didn’t offer specifics. The comment and proposal come as the United States’ relationship with Canada is strained by a slurry of tariffs on Canadian goods coming to the U.S. and further possible retaliatory tariffs from Canada.
DeSantis, however, does not buy into the talk that foreign tourism is in trouble. “I’m with my kids — you know — we were down on spring brink, and we’re at LEGOLAND. And all these people are coming up to me for pictures.”
“I’d say like 80% of them were Canadians, and I’m like, ‘I thought you guys weren’t coming to Florida,’” he said.
Still, some flights for Canadians and Americans have been taken off the schedule, including a seasonal route that connects Orlando International Airport and Edmonton International Airport in Alberta.
DeSantis also wants to eliminate the required local effort – a funding mechanism for public schools derived from property tax – for a year. State reserves would be used to supplement the RLE for the time.
The governor was not fully against sales tax relief, but he wanted the implementation to better coincide with his “Florida-First” ideology.
“Are you going to focus on what gets you the most bang for the buck to help Florida residents?” he said.
But DeSantis wants more than a one-year relief on property tax. He threw his support Monday behind a potential ballot initiative in 2026’s General Election that would completely eliminate property taxes. That would require 60% of voter approval.
Local governments in the state collect approximately $42.8 billion in property taxes each year, according to the Florida Policy Institute. DeSantis said the state’s commitment to a version of the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency should help offset the costs.
He said concern about funding for services like police departments and schools should be a nonissue as long as the state adequately ramps up its DOGE efforts.
