Here’s a disturbing proposal from a politician whose policies I generally agree with:
While I don’t enjoy paying property tax, the idea that the majority of Floridians eligible to vote will soon pay nothing seems like a recipe for much faster growth in county/local government spending. (Many Florida voters already pay next to nothing because they’re taxed on the original purchase price and perhaps that is what accounts for the rapid rise in county spending that Gov. DeSantis decries.)
If the majority of Floridians aren’t paying property tax, won’t they vote for every blue sky spending dream that counties and cities put forward? That’s how it works at the federal level. The majority pay either nothing or next to nothing and have voted the U.S. into the world’s largest or second largest welfare state, as a percentage of GDP (we vie with France for the title). Even if a homeowner who isn’t taxed receives only 1 penny of benefit for every additional $1 million spent it would still be rational for him or her to vote for increased spending.
Is there a method to Ron DeSantis’s apparent madness? I’m sure that he understands politics much better than I do, but I am struggling to find merit in narrowing the tax base and feel that the experiment has already been run on the American people. If the goal is limiting county spending, why not a state-imposed limit on county/local government spending? Take the 75th percentile of per-capita spending in 2025 and impose that as a limit, adjusted annually for inflation, on all Florida counties. A county that is already over the limit would have five years to come down into alignment with the law. This might force counties to eliminate affordable housing subsidies, for example, which have the potential to be infinitely expensive as well as certainly unequal (some people get below-market-rate housing; others, equally virtuous and equally situated, are forced to pay market rates).
Maybe the method in the apparent madness is that homesteaded property isn’t that important to county budgets, e.g., for Miami-Dade just 7 percent of the total budget. ChatGPT says it is 9 percent of the total Palm Beach County budget. Both of these counties have a lot of commercial real estate, but property tax as a whole isn’t the lion’s share of the budget as I would have expected.
Republicans in general seem to be competing with Democrats in the “make the rich pay for everything” department. As noted above, I don’t see how this can work in a democracy where the people paying nothing have the right to vote for unlimited enhancements to whatever they’re receiving from a government funded by a minority that can be trivially out-voted. Maybe it can work in California and New York City where AI and Wall Street actually do generate infinite wealth on a recurring basis, but Florida isn’t home to NVIDIA and the AI companies that use NVIDIA chips.
As not a homesteader, I already pay double taxes, plus bigger capital gains on sale. I am trying to sell the property. I understand why Florida property is not an investment…it is a luxury.
As not a homesteader, I already pay double locals taxes. Also I don’t have use of the property most of the year. I will pay bigger capital gains on sale. I am trying to sell the property. I understand why Florida property is not an investment…it is a luxury.
Surely, you are joking (“I’m sure that he understands politics much better than I do…”)? The one rule under which politicians operate is to perpetuate their career, which entails scams like this one, which is nothing more than a tax the rich scheme and wealth transfer from the few and successful (the “makers”) to the many (the “takers”). Do you not get what he is doing here?
Given our long term debt, we really have no option other than increasing taxes. Perhaps a tax structure where upper middle class folks with incomes from 100-500k could be taxed highest with a 60-80% marginal rate while the wealthiest who are more able to move out can have a 15% marginal rate above 500k to avoid capital flight.
Yes, indeed. Wealthy scammers need to be taxed higher (much higher than even you suggest) and in many different ways to avoid tax avoidance. Wealth taxes should be mandatory. And, there needs to be a way to go after those who are evading paying their fair share by moving to states like Florida, which is what DeSantis seems to be smartly doing.
We could default on the debt, complete the race to the bottom.
60% of my “upper middle class folk” income would make me po’ ass folk. I couldn’t even afford the sawdust coffee at the discount grocer.
OAG: Florida has almost no debt. Half of what Florida did have was retired by Ron DeSantis, whose state budgets have been shrinking. https://floridianpress.com/2025/10/desantis-announces-florida-cuts-state-debt-in-half-since-2019/
Suffrage for Dollars. One dollar, one vote! (See Citizens United v. Federal Election Comission.)
Perish the thought that the windfall be invested in a rainy day fund.
10% income tax & 12% sales tax has never deterred Calif* from limitless spending. Still think the FL property tax repeal is vapor to keep the engagement up until the universal AI token entitlement.