Florida homeowners watched their property tax bills double in five years.
Now DeSantis is heading into a special session with a plan to make them disappear – and he just told Sean Hannity exactly who picks up the tab.
Find out which foreign buyer he named on live television and what it means for every Florida homeowner still waiting for relief.
The Number That Started a Revolution
Florida localities collected roughly $32 billion in property taxes in 2019.
Today that figure has ballooned past $55 billion.
DeSantis calls it a "gusher of revenue" – and he's right.
That $23 billion surge happened while working Floridians watched their own bills explode.
One family told Realtor.com their homestead tax bill jumped from $15,000 to over $91,000 after a remodel triggered a reassessment.
That's not a tax. That's extortion.
The Florida House passed HJR 203 in February with an 80-30 vote – a plan to phase out non-school homestead property taxes entirely by 2037.
The Senate walked away.
Now DeSantis has called a special session for the week of April 20 to finish what the regular session couldn't.
The 'Rich Guy From Brazil' Strategy
Here's how DeSantis explains the math to skeptics who say elimination is impossible.
"Some rich guy from Brazil buys a mansion in Miami, they can still be taxed," he told Hannity. "So, what'll happen is we'll take the homestead revenue [out], and the rest of the revenue will continue to grow like it has. It's doable."
https://twitter.com/realtordotcom/status/2037681072893264306?s=20
That's not spin.
The data backs him up.
Latin American and Caribbean buyers represent 45% of all international property purchases in Florida, according to Florida Realtors' 2025 survey.
Brazilian buyers spent $762 million on Florida residential properties in the most recent reporting period – a figure that has grown steadily even as the broader market cooled.
Luxury home sales in South Florida are booming.
Million-dollar home sales rose 21% in Miami-Dade and 14% in Broward year-over-year through early 2026.
South Florida recorded 361 home sales priced at $10 million or more in 2025 – the second-highest annual total on record.
Florida is also pulling in domestic wealth at a pace no other state can touch.
Over five years from 2019 to 2023, the state gained $137 billion from domestic migration according to IRS data.
In 2026 alone, real estate developers reported over $126 million in transactions from blue-state migrants in just the first 60 days.
DeSantis is betting that this river of outside money – taxed at full non-homestead rates – grows fast enough to cover the $18.5 billion gap that homestead elimination creates.
The Senate Chose Local Government Over You
The Florida House passed the strongest property tax bill any legislative chamber has ever produced in American history – 80 votes to 30.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Ed Hooper let it die without scheduling a single hearing.
https://twitter.com/iluminatibot/status/2035607406278021549?s=20
Not one hearing.
Hooper's stated reason: he's worried about the impact on local governments that have built their entire budgets around collecting your money.
Read that again.
The Senate killed historic tax relief for millions of Florida homeowners because it might inconvenience the bureaucracies that have been extracting those billions for years.
DeSantis didn't flinch.
"Don't let anyone tell you somehow we're not doing the property tax. We're going to be robust," he said after the session collapsed – and immediately called a special session for April 20 to finish the job.
The 60% Question Democrats Are Already Terrified Of
Here's what the left doesn't want Florida homeowners to know about November.
Florida requires a 60% supermajority to pass a constitutional amendment.
Current polling shows 58% of homeowners already support elimination – and the campaign hasn't even started.
https://twitter.com/BrandonStraka/status/2030843028672483465?s=20
Democrats passed their 2024 abortion amendment with 57% and celebrated like they won something.
Florida homeowners are already within two points of making history – before DeSantis has spent a single dollar making the case, before a single TV ad runs, before every homeowner in the state gets a mailer showing what elimination means for their specific tax bill.
No other state has ever done this.
DeSantis built this state into the model for how conservative governance actually works.
He's not leaving office in January without putting this on the ballot and giving Florida homeowners the chance to finish it.
"Here's the thing," he told Hannity. "People say, 'Why are you doing property tax?' I'm doing it because people are getting pinched by it."
The rich guys from Brazil will still pay.
The only question is whether Florida homeowners show up in November and make sure of it.
Sources:
- Ron DeSantis, interview, Hannity, Fox News, March 2026.
- Florida House of Representatives, "CS/CS/HJR 203 – Elimination of Non-school Property for Homesteads," flhouse.gov, March 13, 2026.
- Florida Realtors, "Florida Market Cooled in 2025, Rebound Emerging," floridarealtors.org, February 10, 2026.
- Miami Association of Realtors, "How Wealthy Buyers Are Shifting the Landscape," floridarealtors.org, February 25, 2026.
- Fox Business, "Over $126M in 60 Days – Florida Real Estate Tycoons Say Blue-State Wealth Migration Is Now Permanent," foxbusiness.com, March 2026.
- Property Exemption Guide, "Florida Property Tax Elimination: DeSantis Plan 2026," propertyexemption.com, March 29, 2026.
- WFLX News, "Florida Lawmakers End Session Without Budget or Property Tax Deal," wflx.com, March 13, 2026.
