“Placing more than one property tax measure on the ballot represents an attempt to kill anything on property taxes,” DeSantis said in his first comments since the proposals were unveiled in a message on his X account on Wednesday night. “It’s a political game, not a serious attempt to get it done for the people.”
In dismissing the proposals so cavalierly, the governor indicated he is still willing to play hardball with House Republicans, with whom he feuded often during the regular 2025 legislative session earlier this year.
House Speaker Daniel Perez responded in kind to DeSantis’ remarks in a statement sent to the Phoenix shortly after this story was first published.
“The Governor has not produced a plan on property taxes. Period. It’s unclear what he wants to do. I’ve personally reached out to share with him the House’s proposals and he has, so far, not wanted to engage in a conversation,” he said.
“So when the Governor says he wants to ‘abolish’ property taxes. How? We don’t have any details. But what the House does have is a proposal that reflects the Governor’s comments in the media and can garner the support of voters in November — the elimination of non-school property taxes on all homesteaded properties, in addition to a range of possible ballot initiatives — some to offer tax cuts, and some to fix broken parts of the system. We offered multiple proposals in good faith because it is unclear to us what — if anything — any other party is willing to do.”
All of the proposals filed last week exempted the portion of property taxes that fund K-12 schools, and they all had language specifically prohibiting local governments from reducing funding for law enforcement. Property taxes comprise around 46% of school funding, according to the Florida Education Association.
Senate President Ben Albritton still has not commented on the House proposals, which were filed as resolutions. They would need to be approved by three-fifths of each chamber to make it on the statewide ballot, where they must get 60% support for passage.
“Stay tuned,” the governor added on social media about what comes next in this discussion.
DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Blaise Ingoglia have been on the campaign trail for months insisting that Floridians need property tax relief, promising they will get the chance to vote on such a proposal in the form of a constitutional amendment on the 2026 November ballot.
Ingoglia and his team of auditors inside the CFO’s office have traveled throughout the state to highlight what he claims is excessive spending by local governments. The events seem intended to preempt arguments by local governments that to eliminate or substantially reduce property taxes would pose an existential threat to essential services such as police protection, firefighter services, roads, and parks.
In the case of the City of Tampa for example, Mayor Jane Castor’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget shows that every dollar of Tampa’s $380 million in property tax revenue is allocated to police and fire services.
Meanwhile, Ingoglia took his campaign promoting the yet-to-be written constitutional amendment to Miami Thursday.
The CFO said that the city had “excessively” spent $94 million over the amount that would account for population and inflation in its general fund budget in the 2024-25 fiscal year. He added that going back to the 2019-20 fiscal year, the general fund budget had increased by $358 million in five years.
“If this was a business, the City of Miami would go bankrupt,” he said, declaring that elected officials in the city had engaged in fiscal irresponsibility.
When asked by a reporter if he was essentially “big footing” local communities by questioning the spending priorities of elected officials who were voted in by the public, Ingoglia said he thought it was “highly suspect” that people were “voting for priorities for wasteful and excessive spending.”
He then acknowleged that it would be “up to the taxpayers” to decide what they want to do with the information his office is providing in the press conferences he is conducting.
The Phoenix reached out to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez office for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
This story first appeared in the Florida Phoenix. Read the original here.
