Close Menu
Invest Insider News
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Wednesday, July 30
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest Vimeo
    Invest Insider News
    • Home
    • Bitcoin
    • Commodities
    • Finance
    • Investing
    • Property
    • Stock Market
    • Utilities
    Invest Insider News
    Home»Property»DeSantis’ property tax cuts would cripple local government
    Property

    DeSantis’ property tax cuts would cripple local government

    March 17, 20255 Mins Read



    Eliminating property tax goes far beyond any trims realized by addressing the proverbial waste, fraud and abuse. It most likely means raising another tax to make up for the lost revenue.

    play

    Gov. Ron DeSantis holds immigration press event in Palm Beach County

    Gov. Ron DeSantis holds immigration Palm Beach County press event with Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, State Rep. Mike Caruso and FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass

    Gov. Ron DeSantis has started talking about eliminating property taxes for Florida homeowners.

    I don’t think he really means it. For starters, it would make Florida the only state that doesn’t have a property tax. 

    And if enacted, it would knock a significant hole in Florida’s budget, which requires some new or expanded tax to replace it — and he’s not talking about that.

    So, I would just chalk this up to empty political posturing. Again.

    Still, it’s fun listening to him marvel about the property tax, as if it were some new evil deep-state plot he just discovered and is angry about its implementation.

    “Is it your property or not? Just for being on your property year after year, you’ve got to write a check to the government every year,” he said last week. “So you’re basically paying rent to the government to live on your own property.”

    Oh, the outrage of it all! He was working himself up to a solid 9 on the Fake Rancor Scale.

    DeSantis is leaving out the part that your property has a neighborhood public school nearby that allows all the children there an education. And that if you call “911” from your property, you get a police car, ambulance or fire truck there within minutes to respond to your individual emergency. 

    Or that your property has a public library nearby for your use and a sewer system that keeps your property from being flooded and treated water at the taps on your property and nearby maintained parks where you and your neighbors can play and garbage trucks dedicated to making sure you don’t have to let all your waste rot there on your property and attract vermin.

    Why is DeSantis suddenly interested in property tax?

    I think DeSantis must be talking about home sites during some imaginary frontier days. Yes, the pretended confusion is deep. 

    It also includes him pretending that it’s preposterous to even assess how much your property is worth for tax purposes.

    “The reality is you don’t really know how much your home is worth until someone offers you money and is willing to pull the trigger on a sale. That’s how a market works,” DeSantis said. “You can say it’s worth this much, but if no one is willing to offer you that much, why should you pay taxes on that amount?”

    So, the tax is zero until you sell it?

    Arriving at the elimination of property taxes has been quite a delayed epiphany for DeSantis. After all, he spent a lengthy 12-year dormant phase — six years in the U.S. Congress, and another six years as governor — without calling for the abolition of the property tax.

    And now, we’re led to believe it’s suddenly up near the top of his to-do list.

    Like I said, I don’t believe it. Also, the numbers don’t add up. 

    State lawmakers have already nibbled at the fringes of property taxes in Florida. The Florida Save Our Homes assessment limitation caps yearly increases of property taxes, and is one of nearly a dozen tax breaks already enacted. 

    Getting rid of property taxes would create a $43 billion hole in the state budget, which works out to $2,015 per person, the Florida Policy Institute calculated.

    The property tax levied on homeowners bolsters the budgets of cities and counties, by nearly 30%, and accounts for about half of the money for local schools.

    Eliminating that revenue source goes far beyond any trims realized by addressing the proverbial waste, fraud and abuse. It most likely means raising another tax to make up for the lost revenue.

    Opinion: DeSantis gets Washington FOMO, creates his own misery-spreading Florida DOGE

    Eliminating property tax will have many ripple effects

    And Florida’s options are limited. There’s no state income tax to tap. And lawmakers killed the so-called intangible tax in 2006, a tax on stocks and bonds that could have raised a couple billion dollars per year. 

    That leaves the state sales tax, which is at 6% now. 

    “If policymakers were to eliminate property taxes and replace them with higher consumption taxes (i.e., sales taxes), they would have to double the state’s general sales tax rate,” the Florida Policy Institute found.

    The institute said that doubling the state’s sales tax to 12% — which would make Florida’s sales tax the highest in the nation — would raise about $40 billion, which is still short, but near the hole created by the loss of property taxes. 

    Opinion: Woke alert! Political indoctrination (right-wing) now on syllabus at New College

    It would also be a highly regressive tax, affecting disproportionately Floridians with low to moderate incomes. 

    And Florida already has the dubious distinction of being the most regressive tax structure in the nation due to its reliance on excise taxes on gasoline, alcohol and tobacco rather than income tax, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

    DeSantis has already said he wouldn’t support raising the state’s sales tax rate to pay for the loss of income from the elimination of property tax. 

    “Well, I’m pretty sure the Legislature would not raise the sales tax and I’m quite certain I’d veto any increase,” he posted on social media.

    Well in that case, I’m pretty sure that all this talk about ending property taxes without credible and sufficient offsets for the lost revenue is the legislative equivalent of candy for dinner. 

    Nothing to see here, folks. Just more political theater.

    Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, which is part of the USA Today Network-Florida. He can be reached at fcerabino@gannett.com.



    Source link

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleMHA eyes London AIM listing with ambitious growth plans
    Next Article Trade war jitters hit US stock market while Chinese stocks win big. What’s behind the anomaly?

    Related Posts

    Property

    Government merges rail property arms in bid to deliver 40,000 new homes

    July 30, 2025
    Property

    UK property sector struggling from lack of big-ticket deals

    July 29, 2025
    Property

    As Evergrande faces delisting, China property debt revamp drags on

    July 29, 2025
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Top Posts

    How is the UK Commercial Property Market Performing?

    December 31, 2000

    How much are they in different states across the US?

    December 31, 2000

    A Guide To Becoming A Property Developer

    December 31, 2000
    Stay In Touch
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • TikTok
    • WhatsApp
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    Latest Reviews
    Finance

    AXIL Brands, Inc. Reports Record Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results

    August 16, 2024
    Investing

    UBS sees these trading opportunities in Forex and commodities By Investing.com

    July 20, 2024
    Bitcoin

    Cryptomonnaies : Bitcoin Maintient sa Position au-dessus de 108 000 $, Marché en Demi-Teinte

    July 7, 2025
    What's Hot

    $223 Million Worth of Shorts Annihilated as Bitcoin Eyes New ATH

    October 29, 2024

    Chesnara (LON:CSN) Stock Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

    February 17, 2025

    On finance des pêches qui rendent malades

    May 29, 2025
    Most Popular

    Bitcoin Fees Near Yearly Low as BTC Price Taps $70,000

    July 29, 2024

    New Jersey utilities ready to get back into power generation

    April 28, 2025

    Stock market today: Asian shares mostly fall ahead of central bank meetings

    July 30, 2024
    Editor's Picks

    E-Commodities rachète un total de 2,1 millions d’actions

    March 25, 2025

    Amid uncertainty, Hyderabad real estate firms gird up for US property show | Hyderabad News

    February 14, 2025

    Auctus Gallery Bring In The Rain Man Of Art.

    February 20, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest Vimeo
    • Get In Touch
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    © 2025 Invest Insider News

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.