Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Monday morning, calling on the State Legislature to approve property tax relief for homeowners.

“Gov. Ron DeSantis officially proposes the Florida Legislature redirect the offered $5B sales tax relief to Floridian property tax relief,” Florida’s Voice noted.

“We would end up with about $1,000 in property tax cut for every homesteaded Floridian. That would make a big, big difference,” DeSantis said.

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News4JAX reports:

During the news conference, DeSantis called on the Legislature to direct $5 billion to reduce property taxes for homeowners. He said, if approved, his proposal would result in approximately $1,000 in property tax cuts for every homesteaded Floridian.

“Part of the reason we’re able to do this, although property taxes are local, there is a portion of that that is required local effort for state, for schools. We have a massive surplus. We can cover that through our normal budget reserves,” DeSantis said.

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According to DeSantis, the House of Representatives came up with a proposal to allocate $5 billion for tax relief, including reducing the state sales tax by three-quarters of a penny.

However, while DeSantis applauded the legislators’ efforts to provide tax relief, he said the immediate need is for property taxes, which are not included in the proposal from the House of Representatives.

“The issue with that is people want, [they] are not clamoring for sales tax, but they’re clamoring for property tax relief,” DeSantis said.

“The one thing that we as Floridians through the political process can control is the tax. We can control that. We can go to the amendment, and we can do property taxes that way,” DeSantis said.

“If people need relief, we’re in good fiscal shape: we have the ability to provide relief. We have a responsibility to get it done,” he added.

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Per WESH:

He was joined by the president of Florida Realtors and a homeowner who supported the proposal.

“We believe that tax reform is needed across the board in the state of Florida, and certainly Florida Realtors is always standing on the front line to advocate for reductions when it comes to property taxes,” said Tim Weisheyer, president of Florida Realtors.

“We’re retired. We live on a very fixed income, and property taxes take a big bite out of our budget. Like a lot of seniors here. Removing the property tax would help us a lot,” said homeowner Bill Hyde.

DeSantis highlighted that some counties in Central Florida have significantly increased their budgets as a result of rising property taxes.

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However, he said these budgets should not expand to such a degree.

DeSantis stated that he intends to collaborate with the Legislature to make budgets and contracts more transparent to the public, allowing residents to view these increases.

He emphasized the goal of establishing constitutional protections to shield Florida residents from the rising burden of property taxes.

DeSantis referred to property taxes as paying “rent” to the government and said it’s an “abnormality.”

Watch the full press conference:

 

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