Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a theatrical — and politically combustible — road-map for what he says is the ultimate homeowner flex: eliminating property taxes on primary residences.
Think of it as the fiscal equivalent of ripping off a Band-Aid while promising to sew the bandage back on later — but only if 60% of voters nod in 2026 and lawmakers play ball.
“People are being pinched across the economy in a lot of things,” DeSantis told FOX Business’ Varney & Co.
“We're doing fine at the state [level], but the local property taxes are hurting people.”
He doubled down on the rhetorical mood: “The reality is these local governments have overspent, and people are paying more and more for that.
And at some point it's like, when is enough, enough?”
Those lines land like campaign slogans with actuarial consequences.
Here’s the skinny on what’s being floated in Tallahassee: a $500,000 homestead exemption (with a potential $1 million cap for seniors), a cap on assessment increases, and an aspirational hook — eliminate property taxes on homesteads entirely.
To actually make it happen would require a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot and a super-majority: 60% of voters must approve.
Translation: this is big, bold, and legally fiddly — and would remake how local services get paid for.
But here’s why neighbors and local leaders are clutching their municipal ledgers: property taxes currently raise roughly $55 billion a year in Florida and fund a large chunk of local services — about 18% of county revenues, 17% of municipal revenues and as much as 50–60% of school-district funding in many places, according to the Florida Policy Institute.
Replace that money and someone is paying somewhere else.
Think higher sales taxes, fewer school programs, or creative accounting that lands on retirees or tourists — not exactly a political nonstarter.
DeSantis’s office says the change could be phased in and emphasizes that much property-tax revenue comes from second homes and commercial property, not primary residences.
He’s also vetoed a $1 million study that would have examined how local governments use property-tax revenue and what the consequences of elimination might be — a move critics call “don’t study, just do.”
The governor argues he’s sensitive to implementation details but impatient with delay.
Skeptics say vetoing the study reads like skipping the instruction manual before deploying a budgetary flamethrower.
Policy think tanks and fiscal wonks have run the numbers and put the blunt outcomes plainly: eliminating homestead property taxes would create a funding gap that must be filled.
Some analyses suggest replacing all property-tax revenue could require doubling Florida’s sales tax — from 6% to about 12% — or inventing other statewide levies that would shift costs onto all consumers, not just homeowners.
That trade-off reshuffles the tax burden in ways that could leave lower-income residents worse off even while delivering headline relief to homeowners.
Political theater aside, DeSantis frames the move as relief for people who feel punished by skyrocketing appraisals: “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? It's not right,” he said.
That line will play well on doorsteps and morning shows — especially in places where values spiked during the pandemic boom — but it leaves unanswered who covers fire departments, schoolteachers, and storm repairs when the property-tax tap is turned down.
So what would a phase-in look like in real life?
Expect a messy mix of targeted exemptions, transitional reimbursements from state coffers, potential limits on local budgets, and political bargaining over which towns get spared and which get squeezed.
It’s a recipe for both populist applause and local fiscal panic.
The 2026 ballot threshold — 60% — ensures this will be a referendum not just on taxes but on Florida’s identity: the retiree-friendly, no-income-tax sunshine state doubling down on tax-free living, or the state that quietly shifted costs to everyone else...
Florida’s Bold Plan to Outlaw Property Taxes!
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Sources summary (brief): Gov. Ron DeSantis’s interview on FOX Business outlining the proposal and exact quotes; reporting on House proposals (including $500,000 homestead exemption and ballot/timing details); Florida Policy Institute analysis on property-tax revenue and the fiscal impact of eliminating homestead taxes; coverage of DeSantis’s veto of a $1 million study into property-tax impacts and broader reporting on fiscal trade-offs. (Fox Business)
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