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Sen. Don Gaetz Explains Why He Backed Florida Homestead Property Tax Relief Measure
June 15, 2026
Earlier this month the Senate and the House voted to approve putting lower homestead property taxes on the November ballot.
The measure, a priority of Gov. Ron DeSantis, passed the House 75-26 and moved through the Senate on a 30-9 vote. Rep. Michelle Salzman, Rep. Alex Andrade and Sen. Don Gaetz all voted in favor.
In November, at least 60% of voters must approve the amendment.
In his most recent newsletter, Gaetz said, “I agree with the Governor that you shouldn’t have to pay to rent your homestead from the government. I also agree that local governments provide critical services all of us depend on. Those services require revenue.”
“The problem with property taxes as a revenue source is that property taxes are based on property values. Even local governments that have not raised their millage rates have still benefited from the boom in real estate values. However, most local governments have raised millage rates, meaning higher property values are multiplied by still higher millage rates to result in taxes that far exceed population growth and inflation. Property tax revenues collected by Florida local governments have increased by 70 percent in the last five years. Floridians on Social Security have seen their benefits increase approximately 23 percent while their property tax bills have gone up nearly three times higher. Northwest Florida cities and counties have almost always been good stewards of tax dollars. But they have had more tax dollars to spend than inflation and population growth required.”
“If the plan passes, cities and counties that rely on ad valorem property taxes will have to make budget cuts. Budget cuts mean tough, sometimes painful decisions,” he wrote. “Last year the Legislature cut spending by $3 billion compared to the prior year. This year the Senate and House cut the budget by another $4 billion less than last year. I voted for those budget cuts because I had to. Less income means there has to be less outgo to balance the budget. Families face hard choices as gas prices, utility rates, insurance and housing costs and, yes, property taxes combine to make Florida less affordable. Many families are spending less on wants in order to meet needs. Now it’s local governments’ turn to squeeze the dollars.”
He encouraged voters to talk to their local mayors, city council members and county commissioners and ask questions.
“Make your voice heard about what spending is less important and what services must be maintained,” Gaetz said.
Pictured: Sen. Don Gaetz during an Escambia County Legislative Delegation meeting in Molino. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
23 Responses to “Sen. Don Gaetz Explains Why He Backed Florida Homestead Property Tax Relief Measure”
I don’t want a cut, I want it gone altogether.
Funny how the money that funded schools was “Swapped” for the Florida Lottery money, not “Added to”
Personally I’m tired of millions of metric tons of concrete being poured down the center of our roads eliminating our turning lanes only to put “No U-Turn” signs at the ends of them forcing you to drive a thousand more feet to be able to turn around to patronize someone’s business.
Meanwhile road drainage gets ignored.
Maybe spending will be given more thought if it had to be budgeted like we have to with our personal budgets at home.
There is always more to these bills than is stated up front.
As someone who lives on family land that we’ve paid taxes on for 120+ years; my question is when will we ever own this land? I can no longer afford the tax and am in danger of losing my home as we speak. This is not ok and I’m so happy for some relief… If this happens in time…??
As far as the services that will possibly be stopped…. I don’t receive any of the services that I’ve paid for for a hundred years!! In the North end of Escambia county there are NO services that I am aware of. So to all that do benefit from the services my taxes have paid for all this time…. Your welcome.
Now, I need some relief before I find myself homeless due to some LLC basically stealing properties for sometimes under $2k
The county tax system definitely needs to be audited and reassigned.
The LLC runs the website you pay your taxes through and the count only gives one month to be late on payment before they sell the tax certificate.
Escambia county have been thieves for many years in my opinion.
There should be No taxes associated with property because we have already paid our taxes when we bought our property. The school tax, county etc should be separated from our property. Get # of students in public school and divide that into the school tax amount and that would equal the amount each student pays, that way everybody pays for their child and those that don’t have children in school system doesn’t pay for children they’re not caring for.
Maybe they could have increased the homestead exemption to $100,000 on those below the age of 64 & $250,000 on those above 65. It’ll help the senior citizens. All have to budget now, maybe some of the service costs can be looked at, ie, instead of contracting out so many things, maybe they get those in prisons to do more of the work.
I cannot vote for this.
Raising the Homestead Exemption is certainly understandable. It should be tied to valuation inflation and should have been from years ago.
But there are three (maybe four) major problems I have with this package:
1. This does not solve the Save Our Homes flaw (longevity holds down taxes, causing great tax discrepancies between even identical homes next to one another);
2. It lowers millage rates and sets caps. This benefits very wealthy homeowners. (Panhandle residents cannot imagine the significant number of very, VERY luxurious homes and condos there are downstate. These owners have far more wealth than we can comprehend and are part of the upper 1%, 5%. They have lobbied for a tax cut on real estate.
3. Renters get no cut at all because taxes on real non-homestead property will not go down and will be paid through rent.
4. Because it’s a constitutional change, rescinding it will be monumentally difficult.
Services we get from our local governments and take for granted will be cut. You may not like certain services, but even the things you like (and don’t realize you like) will get axed. I cannot support this.
Michael Dukakis cut taxes just before running for president. To people outside of Massachusetts he called it The Massachusetts Miracle. By the time the bills came home to roost, the election was over. Our governor wants to be the next president. Donald has shown he can get away with stealing billions of dollars despite what the Constitution says.
It’s worth a shot.
I don’t see one comment where anyone said what they wanted to be cut in Escambia County. Here’s a good start.
LIBRARY
ECAT
Florida’s property tax cut sounds appealing, but it comes with real tradeoffs. Property taxes fund core local services – police, fire, infrastructure, and cutting them removes billions from city and county budgets.
That money doesn’t disappear. It means fewer services or higher fees and taxes elsewhere, often shifting the burden onto renters and businesses instead of homeowners.
It also risks long-term stability. Property taxes are one of the most reliable funding sources local governments have, and weakening them can strain budgets and delay critical infrastructure.
And the consequences won’t be abstract. In places like the Panhandle, cutting funds for public safety and infrastructure means communities will be less prepared when the next hurricane hits.
The problem – rising tax bills- is real. But this solution is too blunt: it trades short-term relief for long-term risk and simply shifts costs rather than solving them.
@Derek..Amen Brother.
My property taxes (without fire) have only increase 6% total in 12 years. My fire coverage increased 88%, almost all of which happened when his changes to the law were enacted.
No one should loose their home because they di6pay property tax. There’s plenty of money coming in.. just have to spend it more wisely.
Get ready for Higher Sales Taxes on everything you buy. Somebody has to make up for the Lost Revenue, so why not forget about the Property Taxes and let’s have everybody pay, Property owner or not. OH!!!! Don’t forget about those who own property and doesn’t live here in Florida, “Lets increase theirs” to help offset the Lost.
PEOPLE CAN’T YOU SEE WHATS ABOUT TO HAPPEN?????
Kudos to the Senator . The tax incentive for homestead to be voted on in November will only affect a small amount of all revenue collected for fire , schools , first responders and other programs . Local elected officials will have to cut spending in their discretionary spending like NGOs given out by the millions in our state . It is a great proposal coming up so get out there and vote . Stop nepotism, waste and hands off the piggy bank. Give tax payers a little brake , highest insurance rates in the nation , a miliage abusive increases policies , and more accountability to those managing the revenue . VOTE yes for homestead relief , accountability , and affordability.
home owners get “relieve”.owners of rental property do not,guess,who gets to pay for that?the rentersmost likely the millage rates will go up and more ad velorum fees are going to show up.the money has to come from somewhere.
FIGHT TAXES 1776
This is the man that filed the bill that doubled and many times quadrupled the fire tax for two counties in his district. A bill that threatened to bankrupt businesses and churches in our community. Never Forget.
Amen Kyle. Politicians have seemed to have lost the idea that they are elected to serve the people, not their own greed. I support term limits for all politicians.
I would like to see the homestead exemption adjusted for inflation annually. Had this been done we would not have lost the original intent of the exemption. School taxes should come under this also. The proposed amendment only helps to restore the what has been lost. As the politicians like to say, growth pays for itself and therefore ever higher tax burdens on rsidents of a county are unnecessary.
I’d like to see the Children’s Trust back on the ballot. I think it had good intentions, the result is just not there. We don’t need it and I think it is a taxpayer ripoff!
Reduced property taxes will be shifted to other revenue gathering options.
I support increasing the homestead exemption.
Unfortunately, the politicians don’t really listen to us, or they just provide lip service. It seems the only way to get through to them is through money. That seems to be the only language they speak.
While the job of elected representative certainly has its challenges, notice how few of them call it quits after one or two terms? They only seem to do so if they are term-limited out. Hmm.
The problem isn’t the just property taxes ..It’s career
Politicians! The only reason we have the inflation & higher
Everything is because of you Mr & Mrs politician.These people
In government today are not for the people but for total
Control!!!
What’s in catch in the fine print of this bill because politicians never willingly give-up streams of revenue.
Workers are tired of paying for non workers !