Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation designating a homestead property tax legislative special session for state lawmakers beginning Monday, June 1, in Tallahassee while speaking at a press conference in Tampa.
A property tax amendment, if passed with 60% approval by both the House and Senate, would also require 60% approval by Florida voters on November's ballot.
"Philosophically, I believe, and I think a lot of people believe, not just conservatives, but I think others believe that taxing something that you own repeatedly, which is a property tax, is the worst way to do taxation," DeSantis said. "Because you have this, you pay all these taxes to acquire that property, and then year after year, you're just having to write a check just for the privilege of being able to maintain ownership of something that is supposedly yours."
Gov. DeSantis indicated Florida took in about $32 billion in property taxes in 2019. Now its $60 billion, the governor noted.
"That's a lot of money, that's a lot of taxes that people are paying, and part of it is because some jurisdictions may have raised millage, but a lot of it is they're raising the valuations," DeSantis said.
DeSantis also quipped at the justification for higher property taxes to further fund police and other services.
"If you had a house you bought for 300,000, now they're saying it's worth 900,000, are you using three times as much services? "There's not really a connection to what you're consuming and what they're charging you."
Off that point, Gov. DeSantis acknowledged it was time for the state to step up.
"We need to start standing for taxpayers. For all this time, as we've seen inflation throughout the country, all these different things, it's always the individual, the consumer, the taxpayer that's expected to change things in order to make ends meet," DeSantis said. "They never expect government to be able to change things so that it can benefit the taxpayers."
As for the details, DeSantis mentioned raising the homestead limit to $250,000 for all Florida homesteaders under a phased approach.
"A $250,000 limit, that eliminates property tax for 60% of Florida homeowners. Once you put a schedule in, and this will be something that we work with the legislature on after the vote is taken in November, if it's successful, when you raise to 500,000 limit, that's 92% of all Florida residents would be tax free," DeSantis said.
DeSantis also ensured any proposed property tax revenue would still go police, fire, school, and other core services, and not "divisive" services. The proposal would also cut small business valuations from 10% to 5%.
"That's the strongest protection for small businesses that we've ever seen," DeSantis said.
In addition, the proposal gives the state a 5-year window to tax out of state newcomers under the old property tax system, which DeSantis said was "smart" to mitigate potential negative incentives.
As a fallout to lost homestead revenue, DeSantis pledged creating a trust fund to local government that would provide grants to local governments for support for essential services.
Gov. DeSantis hinted at calling a special legislative session on property taxes to The Floridian in December 2025. With that now a reality, the ball moves to House Speaker Danny "Daniel" Perez (R-Miami) and Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Wauchula) to put it into play.
