DeSantis says property tax relief next after budget is finalized

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(The Center Square) – Gov. Ron DeSantis is continuing his push to place property tax relief before Florida voters on the November ballot.

During a roundtable discussion on property taxes in Brevard County Monday, DeSantis said the issue will take center stage after the legislature completes the state budget, which is ongoing during a special session this month.

While eight different property tax proposals were filed during the regular session, none made it to the finish line and received pushback from local municipalities.

Property taxes account for approximately 43% of municipal general fund revenue, according to a study by the Florida League of Cities, which lobbies for the state’s municipalities.

However, the governor said there are ways to accomplish relief for homestead properties without dropping all property taxes. He said commercial, short term and seasonal properties likely make up about 70% of the total revenue.

He pushed back against claims that taxes would have to be raised elsewhere to make up for a $60 billion loss in revenue.

“That’s if you eliminated every property tax. If we were starting from scratch and we didn’t have all this that’s been built up, if we were starting from scratch I would not advocate any form of property tax just as a matter of principle. I think there are better ways to do it, especially as a state that gets a lot of tourists, we have great ways to be able to offload some of that burden on people that don’t even live here full time and don’t even vote here,” the governor said.

He said his priority is to get relief for homestead properties for Floridians who have already been living in the state, not people who would feel incentivized to move if property tax relief was enacted, comparing it to the process students have to establish in order to qualify for in-state tuition.

“I think if you move here after this is enacted, you’ve got to pay tax for a certain period of time before you qualify for this. I think that that’s fair,” said DeSantis.

One of the property tax proposals that made it the furthest in the legislature was one that would have ended non-school property taxes for homestead properties. It would have saved Florida taxpayers an estimated $4.8 billion during its first year and $14.7 billion once fully implemented.

Any property tax proposal approved by the Legislature would still need voter approval to take effect.