DeSantis wants state to spend millions promoting campaign to cut property taxes

As Gov. Ron DeSantis tries to land one of his final acts in office — nearly eliminating property taxes for Florida homeowners — he intends to use millions of dollars in state money alerting voters about his proposal.

On Monday, Florida lawmakers will return to Tallahassee to debate and ultimately vote on DeSantis’ property tax plan, which would initially raise the homestead exemption to $150,000 and compel the Legislature to create a schedule for “full elimination” of property taxes.

But they’ll also vote on a related proposal from DeSantis’ office to spend $5.5 million in taxpayer dollars to have property appraisers send mailers to property owners about the amendment. The mailers would point homeowners to a state-run website showing them how much they could save if voters approve the amendment in November.

“I don’t recall that happening before,” said Paul Polk, president of the Property Appraisers’ Association of Florida.

Lawmakers last year passed a law prohibiting public money from being used for political advertising or “any other communication sent to electors” about a proposed amendment. The law change was in response to the DeSantis administration spending millions in state money to fight against two proposed 2024 amendments regarding abortion and marijuana use.

The law does not stop governments from posting factual information on a website. DeSantis’ bill said his proposed website detailing savings from reducing or eliminating property taxes “constitutes posting factual information.”

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola, sponsored the bill that blocked state funds from being spent on constitutional amendments. He said DeSantis’ proposal isn’t a violation.

“I strongly support providing as much information as possible about the constitutional amendment,” said Gaetz, who has said he would vote for the bill authorizing the proposed amendment. “There’s been so much conversation, I think it’s really important that accurate information be provided.”

The mailer would say that the notice is “not advocating for the passage or defeat of the proposed constitutional amendment,” according to DeSantis’ proposal.

It would, though, include the ballot summary. The summary as drafted by DeSantis’ office says that the amendment “benefits Florida taxpayers.”

Polk, the head of the Property Appraisers Association of Florida and the longtime property appraiser in Charlotte County, said the office has to send out certain annual notices about taxes. But he can’t recall a time when they notified voters about a homestead exemption amendment.

In 2018 and 2022, more modest proposals to increase homestead exemptions failed to get 60% of the public vote needed to pass.

Mike Twitty, the Pinellas County property appraiser and the head of the Property Appraiser Association’s legislative committee, said he thinks the state’s notices would be required to be sent out alongside the usual annual August notices that alert property owners about changes in their taxes.

“It’s unprecedented, I believe, to put that in there,” Twitty said.

Twitty declined to offer his opinion on the proposed mailers.

But he noted that it’s unusual considering property appraisers have been prohibited from doing anything similar.

“We’re not allowed to put anything in our TRIM (Truth in Millage) notice that would put a thumb on the scale either way,” he said.

State amendment spending

Lawmakers in 2025 adopted the ban on using state money for constitutional amendments after the DeSantis administration spent more than $35 million in taxpayer funds to fight against two ballot amendments, one proposing recreational marijuana and one proposing to protect abortion until viability.

DeSantis staunchly opposed both amendments and launched a series of “public service announcements” that didn’t specifically mention the amendments but included figureheads opposed to the amendments who talked about abortion access or the harms of marijuana.

Both amendments fell short of the 60% threshold needed to pass. DeSantis claimed victory.

The Florida Legislature never undertook a full accounting of the money the state spent fighting the amendments. The language banning state spending was initially proposed by Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island.

Bradley did not respond to calls asking what she thought about DeSantis’ proposal to mail property owners a notice about the proposed amendment and the link to the savings estimation website.

When lawmakers debated her amendment in 2025, Bradley said she thought public messaging campaigns were important, but said “when they cross over into attempting to influence the outcome of a ballot measure, I think we’re then treading into territory that makes me very uncomfortable as a conservative who is very concerned about what our role of government is in a democratic society.”