Florida homeowners have watched their property tax bills nearly double since 2019 – and they're still waiting for relief.
DeSantis just showed up in Brevard County and dared his own party to stop him.
He's calling a summer special session to gut Florida property taxes and get it on the November ballot – and he doesn't care who's in his way.
The Governor Who Actually Means It
For two years, Rick Scott, the House Speaker, and half the Republican establishment have told Floridians that eliminating property taxes sounds great but can't be done.
DeSantis walked into a roundtable in Brevard County on Monday and told them to try harder.
He laid out the framework: expand homestead exemptions, protect small businesses from local government fee hikes, and lock out out-of-state transplants from immediately cashing in on Florida's tax relief.
"I don't want every Tom, Dick, and Harry from out of state moving and rushing to buy a home here because they get a tax benefit," DeSantis said.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2056416400567390707?s=20
Floridians who built this state come first.
The target: a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot, reached through a summer special session after the current budget session wraps up.
Rick Scott Blinked First
Hours before DeSantis took the stage in Brevard, his predecessor went on Fox Business and threw cold water on the whole idea.
Scott – eight years as governor, now a U.S. senator – said he can't endorse eliminating property taxes until someone explains what replaces the revenue.
"We already have a very efficient state," Scott said. "So, how are you going to fund education and transportation, the environment, things like that?"
That's a fair question from a senator.
It's also exactly what local government bureaucrats, teacher union bosses, and liberal activist groups have been saying for two years.
Scott's concern is legitimate – but his timing tells you something.
He chose the same morning DeSantis went public in Brevard to undercut the proposal.
Scott is a known ally of House Speaker Danny Perez, who has been feuding with DeSantis openly for months.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2056428842940555675?s=20
The House passed a bill this session that would have eliminated non-school homestead property taxes through a decade-long phase-out – a plan DeSantis dismissed as "milquetoast."
The Senate never held a single hearing on it.
Now Perez is on record saying he's "still waiting for a proposal" from the governor, and Scott is on Fox Business saying the math doesn't work.
Meanwhile, DeSantis is the only one showing up in front of actual Florida homeowners and saying yes.
No State Has Ever Done This and That Is the Point
Every critic of DeSantis's plan has one argument: no state has ever eliminated property taxes, so Florida can't either.
That's true – and it's irrelevant.
No state has ever done it because no governor has ever pushed it the way DeSantis is pushing it.
Florida already has no income tax.
If DeSantis pulls this off – a phased elimination of homestead property taxes – Florida becomes the first state in history with neither an income tax nor a property tax on primary homes.
That's not a policy tweak.
That's a complete reset of what Florida homeowners owe their government.
Local governments across Florida collect nearly $60 billion in property taxes today, up from $32 billion in 2019.
That's a $28 billion increase in seven years – extracted from the same homeowners DeSantis is now promising to protect.
The Florida Policy Institute estimates that eliminating homestead property taxes removes $18.5 billion from local government budgets annually – money that funds bureaucrat salaries and administrative bloat alongside the core services politicians always invoke when they want to kill a tax cut.
https://twitter.com/warDaniel47/status/2056720769590206474?s=20
DeSantis has already committed state surplus funds to help bridge the gap during the transition and made clear that local governments will be expected to operate leaner.
He's right.
This Is the Last Lap
DeSantis is term-limited and leaves office in January.
A Stetson University poll found 77% of voters would approve a property tax elimination amendment if it reaches the November ballot – well above the 60% supermajority required to pass.
The window closes August 1.
A summer special session, a three-fifths vote in both chambers, and a statewide referendum in November – that's the entire path.
Scott and Perez can keep explaining why they can't get there.
The question is whether Florida Republicans are going to stand in front of their own voters and explain why they killed the biggest tax cut in state history.
Good luck with that.
Sources:
- A.G. Gancarski, "DeSantis Outlines Property Tax Reforms Amid Criticism From Scott," Florida Politics, May 18, 2026.
- A.G. Gancarski, "Rick Scott throws salt on Ron DeSantis' property tax repeal pitch," Florida Politics, May 18, 2026.
- A.G. Gancarski, "Ron DeSantis says property tax repeal Special Session will wait until at least June, with 'phased' approach planned," Florida Politics, April 29, 2026.
- "Florida Property Tax Push Exposes Rift Between DeSantis and Lawmakers," Newsweek, April 2026.
- "DeSantis Signals Summer Session for Property Tax Overhaul," The Real Deal, May 7, 2026.
