ORLANDO, Fla. — There was more tax talk, specifically cutting property taxes, during a Monday morning news conference held by Florida's governor in Orlando.
Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on his move to reduce the tax burden homeowners in the Sunshine State currently pay.
WATCH BELOW: DeSantis proposes $1K property tax cut for homestead residents
This comes after the Florida House of Representatives proposed last week a move to cut the sales tax from 6% to 5.25%.
DeSantis pushed back on the proposed sales tax cut, saying those changes would do more to help tourists and not Florida residents.
"I don't want to give Canadians a tax cut," the governor said.
WATCH THE FULL NEWS CONFERENCE BELOW:
He said his property tax relief plan would be much more focused on helping Floridians.
"The tax relief needs to be Florida first," DeSantis said. "We need to focus on our Florida residents, and in this case, Florida homeowners, particularly our homesteaded homeowners."
One of the main concerns from city and county officials about ending or reducing property taxes would be how it would impact city services, like funding the police departments. However, DeSantis quashed those concerns.
WATCH BELOW: Here's what WPTV viewers are saying about ending property taxes
"That's not true. That is not true," the governor said.
The Florida House of Representatives has proposed $5 billion in tax relief, but the governor wants that to be focused on property tax relief, not cutting the sales tax.
"I'm proposing that the Legislature direct that to (provide) immediate relief for all Florida homestead owners," DeSantis said, "and if we do that, we would end up with about $1,000 in property tax cuts for every homesteaded Floridian."
To make this fiscally possible, Florida's governor said the state has a "massive surplus" that can be covered by budget reserves.
"We don't need to have people paying property taxes this year on that specific line item, so we would roll that back to zero," DeSantis said. "We'd also roll back some of the local lines and issue a rebate."
He called the proposal a "really, really big deal" for middle-class residents.
The governor also said that this would just be the "opening salvo" when it comes to tax relief, also proposing a constitutional amendment on property taxes.
DeSantis said he wants to continue to shift the tax burden on tourists, pushing back on criticism that it would reduce the number of people wanting to visit Florida.
"I don't want to keep taxing Floridians on these properties to be able to subsidize a tax cut for Canadians," DeSantis said. "I'd rather the Canadians pay taxes to subsidize the reduction in Florida property taxes."
Matt Sczesny is determined every day to help you find solutions in Florida's coverage collapse. If you have a question or comment on homeowners insurance, you can reach out to him any time.
