DeSantis offers plan to eliminate property taxes for poor, rural Florida counties

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the state to take over some funding of government services for rural, thinly-populated fiscally constrained counties and allow them to eliminate their property taxes.

DeSantis made the statement at an economic development announcement in Crawfordville on Monday.

His estimate of how much this would cost Florida taxpayers would be about $300 million per year, a drop in the bucket of the nearly $50 billion in general fund spending that is part of a tentative budget deal by lawmakers.

"I'm just telling you that is budget dust, like, that's easy for us to do," DeSantis said. "And I'm not suggesting that, like, we have to just do that, but I'd be willing, of course, we're going to help with that. You know, we want, we want homeowners to be able to afford to stay in their home, and if that means that we take this gigantic surplus that we've accumulated and help rural counties and fiscally constrained counties.

"I'd much rather do that and be able to get the property tax relief done, than try to say, 'Oh, well, we can't do property tax relief because the rurals aren't going to be able to raise revenue.' We have revenue."

The state's fiscally distressed counties, as listed by the Florida Secretary of State's Office includes: Baker, Bradford, Calhoun, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Nassau, Okeechobee, Putnam, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Wakulla, Washington and Walton counties.

It's part of DeSantis' ultimate goal to get all homesteaded property owners in Florida a one-time rebate and later permanent relief on their property taxes, which have been increasing due to annual assessments. Property taxes are levied at $1 per $1,000 of assessed value, known as a mill.

DeSantis also pitched his plan for a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot. The House has convened a special committee to examine the issue.

"I think everybody who looks at this does understand we do want people to actually own their homes and at some point to say that you're 80 years old and you paid off your mortgage 30 years ago, and yet, you still gotta just stroke checks," DeSantis said. "And then people are telling you your property's worth twice as much as it was 10 years ago, and that goes up, even though you do have some protection. That's not what we want. We want people to own free and clear. So stay tuned on that."

The second-term GOP governor announced 300 jobs created at a body armor plant in Wakulla County, using incentives through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund and the Rural Infrastructure Fund.