DeSantis: property taxes’ hurting people’

DeSantis, however, has doubled down on his call to eliminate property taxes on primary residences, arguing that rising local tax bills are squeezing homeowners and reflecting unchecked local government spending.

 

“People are being pinched across the economy in a lot of things,” DeSantis said Friday on FOX Business’ “Varney & Co.” “We’re doing fine at the state [level], but the local property taxes are hurting people.”

“The reality is these local governments have overspent, and people are paying more and more for that,” he said. “And at some point it’s like, when is enough, enough?”

 

DeSantis reiterated that his goal is to eliminate property taxes “completely” for homesteaded residents. This move would make Florida the first state in the nation to have neither state income tax nor property tax on primary residences.

 

House lawmakers are advancing proposals that include a $500,000 homestead exemption, a potential $1 million exemption for seniors, caps on assessment increases, and an option to eliminate homestead property taxes.

 

Any constitutional amendment would require 60% voter approval on the 2026 ballot, and DeSantis has said changes may need to be phased in.

 

“The majority of our revenue for property tax is [from] non-Florida residents because people have second homes and commercial property,” DeSantis said on Fox Business. “Now, you may have to phase it in. There’s gonna be things we’re gonna do. We’re sensitive to all that.”

 

He also pointed to rapid increases in assessed values following Florida’s post-COVID population boom.

 

“How is it that you buy a home for $350,000 and then four years later they tell you it’s worth a million dollars and you gotta pay more in property tax?” DeSantis said. “It’s not right.”

 

New study outlines statewide fiscal fallout

Local officials’ warnings align with a newly released analysis from the Florida League of Cities, which found that eliminating or significantly reducing homestead property taxes would trigger widespread fiscal disruption and weaken essential services statewide.

 

The study found that property taxes account for roughly 43% of municipal general revenue across Florida cities. Because Florida has no income tax, the report concluded that property taxes “function as the stabilizing base that offsets volatility in consumption-based revenues,” such as sales taxes, meaning cuts would likely shift the tax burden rather than reduce it.

 

Public safety would be hit first and hardest. More than 56% of municipal general fund spending statewide goes to police and fire services, according to the analysis.

 

In small cities with fewer than 5,000 residents, annual police and fire spending accounts for about 90% of total property tax collections. Mid-size cities spend 150% to 175%, while large cities with more than 100,000 residents spend about 140% of their property tax revenue on public safety.

 

That imbalance means cities of all sizes are already relying heavily on sales taxes, state-shared revenues, utility funds and fees to maintain baseline policing and fire protection, even before any additional tax cuts.

 

The study also found that general government operations, including legislative and executive functions, legal services, and financial management and planning, consume a large share of property tax revenue.

 

In coastal and infrastructure-heavy municipalities, spending on public works, transportation, and quality-of-life services often exceeds total property tax collections, underscoring how thin margins already are.

 

Using a microsimulation model developed by researchers at Wichita State University, the League analyzed how various homestead tax reform proposals would affect municipal revenues across the state.

 

Eliminating homestead property taxes outright would result in a 38% loss in ad valorem revenue and a 14% drop in overall general fund revenue, forcing millage rates to nearly double to avoid service cuts.

 

Large fixed-dollar exemptions, ranging from $250,000 to $500,000, would still produce losses of 25% to 32%, requiring millage increases of 20% to 70% on remaining taxable properties to break even.

 

Not all reforms carried the same risk.

 

“Clean-slate” approaches that remove existing caps and exemptions before applying relief performed differently, with a 32% discount or $100,000 just-value exemption producing net revenue gains for cities.