A.G. Gancarski
If Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to end property taxes is successful, he says tourists can fill the gaps.
“If you ask people, would you rather not have to pay property taxes if that meant that Canadians and Brazilians may pay more hotel tax, I think 100% of Floridians would say that’s a trade that they would want to make,” DeSantis told Sean Hannity.
The Governor continues to make the case that property taxes are an undue burden on homeowners, arguing that they continue to go up, affecting everyone from senior citizens with fixed incomes to people relocating in the state for jobs. He has said previously that foreign tourists could pay more to replace the property tax, but funding formulas present a challenge.
One problem with this suggestion is that current tourism development taxes have statutory caps at 6% of transaction costs and firmly prescribed uses for the money, which include capital costs for facilities to draw in tourists, associated advertising campaigns and funds to bolster beaches.
Elimination of property taxes would leave holes in current budgets.
As the Florida Policy Institute noted in a criticism of the tax cut concept, property taxes make up roughly a sixth of county and city revenue and more than half of school district revenue. If the taxes were eliminated, it would leave a revenue hole of more than $2,000 for every man, woman and child in the state.
Meanwhile, the conservative James Madison Institute says Florida’s property tax burden is 25th in the country, which places it firmly in the middle of the back.
DeSantis and the Legislature differ on which tax cuts would benefit Floridians most. The House proposes a 0.75-point cut in the sales tax to 5.25%. DeSantis said he’d be willing to support that only if it went along with immediate property tax relief, suggesting that it could accompany a break that translates to “likely about $1,000 per homesteaded property.”
16 comments
TruthBTold
April 1, 2025 at 9:10 am
Property Tax relief is badly needed, my taxes are now higher than my P&I payments. Absurd in Leftist counties like Alachua. Millage rate is almost 24!
TruthBTold
April 1, 2025 at 9:11 am
Would love to see both a cap on millage rates, and an increase in Homestead deduction allowance. Save our homes!
JD
April 1, 2025 at 9:33 am
This won’t end well.
Eliminating property taxes sounds great on the surface, but in practice it’s a massive windfall for wealthy property owners, especially those with multi-million dollar estates.
The rest of us will end up shouldering the burden through increased gas and sales taxes, which disproportionately impact working- and middle-class Floridians. Relying on hotel and tourism taxes to fund core services like schools, roads, and public safety is risky and unstable, especially in a state vulnerable to hurricanes and economic downturns. And we all now TrumpHumpers are going to kill FEMA (unless it’s at Mar Largo).
This is classic ‘socialism for the rich, bootstrap rhetoric for everyone else’ bullsh!t.
Peachy
April 1, 2025 at 9:36 am
Yes property taxes are very high and politicians spend every nickel of the increased revenue. Even the people in my county agreed to raising the sales tax one percent higher a few years ago. Of course there was no need for this as property values exploded but the majority of the zombies bought in. Now they pay.
FLPatriot
April 1, 2025 at 10:59 am
Is he not smart enough to realize that Florida citizens also vacation in other parts of Florida? This would raise the burden on families in Florida that like to vacation on our home state. He is hellbent on trying to create a legacy and something to point to when he runs for POTUS instead of coming up with real solutions for the state.
Peachy
April 1, 2025 at 12:12 pm
Tourist taxes and fees are becoming the next thing for recenue. Look at your hotel, rental car, air fare breakdown next time. Personally I don’t like it but that’s where it is heading. DeSantis is a smart guy. Remember he is a Harvard and Yale alum. In the end I don’t think we will ever see an elimination of property taxes. Maybe a small push to the tourists that visit here.
Michael K
April 1, 2025 at 1:23 pm
The Unabomber was a Harvard grad/alum.
Peachy
April 1, 2025 at 1:27 pm
Okay. And?
Bill
April 2, 2025 at 11:21 am
Someone always comes last in every class. Just because he went there doesn’t mean he’s good at what he does same as you don’t want the heart surgeon that came last in their class either. Just sayin.
Michael K
April 1, 2025 at 11:38 am
Does the governor know that foreign travel to the US is declining by at least 5% due to Trump policies – and Canadian air travel to the US is down 70%? (Mexicans are our second-highest volume of international travelers – and our relationship with that nation is also in tatters). Not sure how the governor intends to work around lodging tax nexus requirements.
But the more salient point is this: Why on earth should we expect someone else to pay for the basic services we need to function as a civilized society? How did we get to the point where we expect things like public safety, so long as we do not have to pay for it?
Peachy
April 1, 2025 at 12:16 pm
European countries like Spain, Italy, and Greece are imposing and raising taxes and fees in an attempt to curb tourism. Will it work? Nope. Americans will continue to flock there in the summer and pay the tax and withstand the water pistol (their version of Tesla firebombers) attacks as they sit at the cafe’s. With regards to Canada, just wait until that first cold front blasts them in October. They will come.
PeterH
April 1, 2025 at 2:24 pm
How will DeSantis pay Florida’s bills when Trump’s recession hits home in the coming months??? Oh I forgot…. DeSantis will be out of office spinning this disaster on Faux News.
Bill
April 3, 2025 at 7:24 am
When Lyin’ Byron is Governor in 26, and given his penchant for drug dealing and check kiting, my guess is that pot will suddenly become legal and taxed at a fairly high rate (pun intended). That will help 🙂
tom palmer
April 1, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Anyone who decides to use tourist tax proceeds for general fund expenditures will likely end up in court.
MarvinM
April 2, 2025 at 4:42 pm
Have to say I don’t understand what you are asserting here.
Florida, having no state income tax, has to generate revenue from other streams and my understanding is a good deal of it is generated from documentary stamp taxes (basically taxes on real estate sales). But after that, I thought it was tourist revenue from hotel bed taxes and such.
If I am wrong and those hotel taxes go to the county rather than the state, mea culpa.
A broader point here is that maybe all of us, self included, should understand how our city, county, state and federal funding actually works, what services each of those cover.
LexT
April 2, 2025 at 8:40 am
Make sure you collect the hotel tax from AirBnB and VRBO.