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By Giulia Carbonaro and Shane Croucher
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that his efforts to eliminate property taxes in his state are threatened by competing tax-cutting proposals that could end up on the ballot.
To be successful, a proposal needs to reach a 60 percent voter threshold.
"Placing more than one property tax measure on the ballot represents an attempt to kill anything on property taxes," the Republican governor said in a post on X overnight Wednesday. "It’s a political game, not a serious attempt to get it done for the people."
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Florida lawmakers, urged by DeSantis, have pushed forward eight pieces of legislation trying to offer property tax relief to homeowners, who have seen their bills rise sharply during the last five years. Seven of these are expected to appear on the 2026 general election ballot.
“What has been lost in this debate has been the fact that the ultimate decision on what should happen with property taxes belongs not with elected officials but with the people of Florida,” the state’s House Speaker Daniel Perez said in a memo issued last week, when the bills were announced.
“If we have faith in the voters to elect us, we should not be afraid to let them be a part of the conversation about the taxes they pay.”
DeSantis, who has repeatedly said he would back an effort to completely abolish property taxes in the state, now seems unhappy about this multipronged approach. The governor shared a post on X written by Florida former congressional candidate Maria Peiro, a conservative Republican, which called the bills unacceptable “half-measures.”
“Currently, there are 7 ballot measures related to lowering or abolishing ‘some property taxes’ for ‘some property owners’ that have been filed as joint resolutions in the Florida legislature,” Peiro wrote.
“We need to make it clear to our legislators that we do not accept these half measures and that we do not want all of these measures on the ballot. It is confusing and it will be very difficult to reach the 60% needed to place it on the constitution,” she added.
This is a developing article. Updates to follow.
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