Governor Ron DeSantis proposes $1,000 property tax rebates for Florida homeowners
Press release from the Office of Governor Ron Desantis
ORLANDO, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a proposal to deliver immediate property tax relief to Florida homeowners: a rebate averaging $1,000 for each homesteaded property in the state. The rebates, to be issued in December 2025, would cover state-mandated school property taxes—ensuring full school district funding while easing the burden on Florida families.
This proposal would benefit over 5.1 million homesteaded properties across Florida and marks a major step toward the Governor’s long-term goal of eliminating property taxes through a future constitutional amendment.
“Property taxes effectively require homeowners to pay rent to the government,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Constitutional protections for Florida homeowners require approval of the voters in 2026. In the meantime, Floridians need relief. I am today proposing a plan that will result in—on average—$1,000 rebate checks for each household as a discount on their property taxes. If the Legislature acts on this plan now, we can get this done this year. Let’s get this done for the people of Florida this session.”
The governor called on the Florida Legislature to grant the necessary authority to issue the rebates immediately, leveraging the state’s strong revenue position to benefit full-time residents.
I’ll believe it when it happens.
DeSantis elsewhere said his target in this was “local governments” which of course he has zero respect for and which he considers competition for power and the direction of state politics. Here’s hoping this fails as a slight of hand aimed at his enemies and masquerading as his magnanimity.
DeS is still desperately trying to salvage a future in the White House.
Did u vote for the freak Gillum??
What an odd thing to say.
We’ll need every penny given Trump’s tariff plans.
True that, plus rising insurance rates from all the storms, etc
Speaking of the Governor, good article about his surgeon general who he foisted off on UF where he collets a check, does nothing, publishes research with falsified data exposed by a required UF review, received 3 months. DeSantis is ruining higher education in Florida – look up his trashing of New College, previously a true state asset ranked 4th as America’s public liberal arts college – and has taken aim at the U of West Florida were he appointed 2 far right wing members to it’s board of trustees, one of whom has repeatedly called for women to stay home and have babies.
‘Ladapo’s a charlatan’: Florida surgeon general’s tenure at UF is lackluster, colleagues say
Records and interviews reveal missing grant funds, underperformance and unfulfilled promises
https://www.alligator.org/article/2025/03/ladapo-s-a-charlatan-florida-surgeon-general-s-tenure-at-uf-is-lackluster-colleagues-say?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_featured
“One of the new UWF appointees is Scott Yenor, a professor of political science at Boise State University exposed by the Guardian last year as the driving force behind an Christian nationalist activist group called Action Idaho, which was accused by civil rights advocates of spreading conspiracy theories online and promoting rightwing extremism and bigotry.
Yenor, an avowed anti-feminist, has spoken previously of career-oriented females being “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome”, and has called US universities “citadels of gynecocracy”.
About 60% of UWF’s student population of 14,300 is female, and the Pensacola school embraces “the liberal arts tradition as the foundation for educating future generations”, according to its website.
A second controversial figure among DeSantis’s five appointees is Adam Kissel, a former education department official during the first Trump administration and Heritage Foundation visiting fellow on higher education reform. Kissel reposted to his X account this week a celebratory message from a Proud Boy founder convicted and jailed for attacking police during the deadly 6 January Capitol riot, who was pardoned by the new president on Monday….”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/26/ron-desantis-university-west-florida-conservative
It cracks me up that so many people here are voting your comment down. MAGAs cry out about government waste and Ladapo is a poster child for government waste yet because he waves an anti-vax, plandemic flag, they’re all for him even as he collects a half million a year to basically push conspiracy theories and junk science.
Anyone, anything the least bit conservative to you is blasphemy!! Let’s have education actually educate young people, not indoctrinate them!
Anyone, anything mentioning Trump’s policies in a negative light are much the same to conservatives. Many are incapable of recognizing the detrimental financial impact to consumers. It may also be they’re just so brainwashed they’ll believe anything he does is good.
So true. As a joke and experiment, in another article I used the term “TDS’ to see how easy the local MAGA lovers could be triggered. To date it has 128 Thumbs Down, which I believe is a record for the Chronicle. I apologize for the carpel tunnel damage done to conservatives clicking Thumbs Down so hard.
If they think an article is by anyone other than a conservative to the right of Atilla the Hun, they do not read it, and it is an automatic Thumbs Down.
Can I prove it? In another article I posted under an assumed name and wrote a rather conservative sounding post. The same Chronicle readers gave me 99 Thumps UP. Showing many here will read a post if they do not know who wrote it.
No DEI prefers the DUI hires Trump makes.
Did u vote for the freak Gillum???
I am so thankful for Gov. DeSantis! He is dedicated to alleviating the burden of government regulations and taxes on citizens.
While I am for helping those who cannot help themselves, at some point, the expectation that we would fund all sorts of initiatives, research, housing, healthcare, etc. through government, with all the added expense of supporting the behemoth to sustain all that has been fueling an unsustainable spending spree at the federal level.
I’m relieved to see the pendulum swinging back toward smaller, more responsible government. It had swollen like a flooded river out of it’s riverbank, and has been destructive, saddling our country with impossible levels of debt and fraud.
For the sake of my children and grandchildren, I’d rather clean up the fiscal mess and navigate the needed changes now, so they have opportunities rather than debt burden and stagnation later.
Government should scale back – WAY back, and should not be able to take homes away from people who have already paid for them.
During the pandemic, I felt like Gov. DeSantis and his wonderful Surgeon General protected us from mandates that others were subject to and still suffering from. Gov. DeSantis is leading again to protect us, this time from a different kind of threat, but a threat all the same. Our Governor is showing the whole country an example of what good government should be.
Concerned Mom, DeSantis is burdening our previously highly ranked state universities with political requirements as well as taking over traditionally university set procedures – like tenure – which will result in many top notch faculty leaving and others considering new positions scratching Florida universities from their list. The low cost to students, and top rankings in education and research are what he inherited and he’s busy ruining it.
As to cost, look at the unreal salaries – usually to ex-GOP politicians – he is awarding to new presidential and other administrative hires – and Ladapo (see article linked above) – and lack of accountability when those hires blow up (see Sasse ad Ladapo). Sorry, but that’s not good management.
Lastly, look at the carefree manner in which he gutted New College, before him a true asset of the state which ranked just behind our 3 service academies as the best public college in America, and which at various times led the nation in the per capita number of graduates who went on to graduate studies. That’s gone! Look it up! Now he’s aiming at the U of West Florida, not prestigious like New College WAS, but not needing knuckle dragging board members (see linked article above).
New College was a Weirdo school. Did u vote for the freak Gillum???
New College ranked just behind our 3 service academies as the best public college in America.
That’s a fact.
Jaz did I see you on the side walk protesting Tesla & DOGE? You know about DOGE, right? They have found billions in Government waste. They’re actually doing something good for our country.
Just curious
They say they have found “billions”. Let’s see an actual accounting. Look, I know there is waste in all organizations and more efficient ways to do things and costs to be cut. This is not what is happening with Elon “Special K’ Musk.
Speaker of the House Daniel Perez said the House’s budget includes $5 billion for reducing sales taxes. DeSantis is arguing that a large percentage of sales taxes are paid by tourists and that any tax relief from that $5 billion (“found” by the legislature, not DeSantis) should go to homeowners, not tourists. It’s a one-time thing, intended to give property tax relief while other proposals are in the works.
If you don’t see that savings, blame Perez, not DeSantis. The typical Floridian will not see anywhere near $1,000 in savings from a sales tax reduction, but Perez came up with this half-baked idea in the middle of the session to distract from the property tax issue.
There are also proposals to reduce or eliminate property taxes permanently, but those will require the approval of voters and won’t take effect for several years.
Paula, property taxes go to local governments. The sales tax mostly goes to the state which DeSantis runs. Do the math.
I guess you stopped at the headline?
“The rebates, to be issued in December 2025, would cover state-mandated school property taxes—ensuring full school district funding while easing the burden on Florida families.”
No local government will lose any money.
Both are one-year proposals: a sales tax reduction that will minimally benefit Florida residents or a one-year property tax rebate of about $1,000 for Florida residents. This is simply a question of what to do with $5 billion in the budget that has been set aside by the legislature to benefit residents. The budget has a surplus because state revenues have exceeded expectations.
The legislative property tax proposals are completely separate, and most, if not all, require approval by the voters.
You are correct on this proposal Paula and I am wrong. However, DeSantis does have property taxes and thus local government autonomy in his sights.
There are other alternatives, but compared to the sales tax, property taxes not only fuel local governments, but are more progressive than sales taxes, meaning working and poor people – MAGA’s supposedly new constituency – will pay a higher proportion of their income on sales taxes than property taxes. Florida has no income tax, again something that favors the wealthy and with our states lack of services (including Medicaid) and poor pay for teachers, police, etc., this state is built for the wealthy.
Citizen, from the Wall Street Journal:
“President Trump boasted about spending cuts by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency during his address to Congress, listing a series of now-canceled programs that he said highlighted wasteful spending. However, a Wall Street Journal analysis of government contract data showed a much different picture: “Woke” cuts were a tiny fraction of the total, and many claims of savings were overstated.
While DOGE hadn’t offered details about all of the stated savings, it had posted a list of more than 1,100 canceled contracts to its website. Last month, it said the savings from these contracts amounted to about $7 billion. The Journal analysis, completed in late February, projected the actual savings could have been closer to $2.6 billion over the next year if spending levels remained constant—and about 2% of the funds would have gone to contracts related to DEI.”
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-speech-congress-joint-session/card/how-much-money-has-doge-cut-from-federal-spending–oir6cnQq2aDEXyWB5YN5
That doesn’t address the fact that most of these cuts, which are a miniscule part of the budget, are illegal and need congressional approval to become legal. That’s not happening and meanwhile the damage to these departments will be expensive to repair.
By the time that damage is made clear – it includes fired researchers, VA care givers, and service providers for SS and Medicare – you will be joining me in cursing Musk and Trump as malevolent idiots. Count on it.
You mention children, I’m curious as to what you think about his proposal to allow children to work overnight shifts before a schools day? I thought the immigrants were taking jobs that US ADULT citizens wanted. I don’t recall any children saying that immigrants were taking their jobs. Children can already work if they want to at 14yrs. I cannot believe people are actually okay with promoting child labor.
“rebate averaging $1,000 for each homesteaded property in the state”
No! governor, don’t limit this to just homesteaded property. Homestead property shouldn’t receive special treatment. If you own multiple properties each property is charged school tax.
Don’t punished property owners for being successful. Either all FL properties get equal treatment and receive the rebate or none get it. Governor don’t you start pushing DEI type policies.
Umm, this is on April First ,,,
Show ME the money!!!
One thing no one is talking about. These projections are based on last years’ numbers and assume some reasonable stability.
WHAT If things the MAGA fans don’t want to consider happen?
Suppose Trump’s tariffs cause a global recession.
Suppose Trump’s firings cause millions to be unemployed and not spending.
Suppose the recession causes all Americans to quit spending so much.
Suppose inflation zaps everyone.
Suppose Trumps bad treatment of all foreigners causes tourism to places like Florida to drop significantly.
Desantis WILL NOT have the $$$$$ to hand out $1000 checks.