After pledging to either slash or eliminate property taxes in his state, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offered a solution on how to compensate for the disappearance of revenue from those taxes – lean on Canadian tourists.
Florida Politics reports DeSantis believed Canadian “snowbirds” will continue to arrive in large enough numbers to make up for the funds lost when property taxes shrink or disappear. However, current trends are showing a decline in Canadian arrivals in the Sunshine State – 640,000 visitors from up north in the second quarter, according to Visit Florida data, down from 739,000 in the same period in 2024.
Furthermore, a new survey from Royal LePage found more than half of Canadians who own US property are planning to sell it within the next year, citing their unhappiness with Trump policies to their country.
Nonetheless, DeSantis is convinced Canadian money is the answer to the question.
“They said that the Canadians were going to stop coming to Florida,” said DeSantis during the 2025 Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism on Wednesday. “And I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s true, because who would want to be in Canada in the winter or spring when you could be in Florida? Like, if you can get here, you want to get here.’ And so, we have the numbers.”
DeSantis added, “We had a record-breaking number of 34.4 million visitors to the state of Florida. And that includes 31.5 million American visitors, 2.3 million overseas visitors, and 640,000 Canadian visitors, and I knew that they would come, and so we continue to attract people, to do that, and I think that this is part of the reason why we’re even having a discussion about giving people generationally significant property tax relief.”
Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
Your misprint of 311.5 million American visitors, considering your other numbers, should be 31.5 million.
I’m with DeSantis … Canadians will get past the “insult/harassment” to them from Trump and still COME to the Sunshine State.
Thank you, Dr. Boaz! I checked the Florida Politics article and it said 311.5 million – but I double checked with the governor’s office and it is 31.5 million.
Ha- he is a fool if he thinks Canadian people want to come to our country when we have treated them so horribly.
Eliminating property taxes sounds great but unrealistic. I think you have a lot of snowbirds and they pay for schools eliminate that tax. I am more than willing to pay but as a snowbird the rates are becoming excessive. The cost of insurance is a much bigger problem and something that needs to be addressed or you will loose a lot people.
Why governor of one of the largest states in the union would come up with this shallow explanation ?
Certainly Florida residents whether they own Primary or Second residences should have the greatest amount of property tax relief… they are here much of the time and paying taxes upon taxes (sales, licenses and more $$$).
Then, look at next tier of real estate owners… and decide based upon thorough County and State audits.
When is this suppose to happen. All I hear is the hype from him.
Let’s do it! Let’s get rid of property taxes! Why should I have to pay taxes on my home every year that I own! Sarasota property taxes have gotten ridiculous! My son has a home on Clematis St. Built in 1950 around 1500 square feet and the taxes are $6000 a year!!!!!!!!! That’s $500 per month to live in his own home! Sarasota has plenty of tax money and spends it on $200 million dollar projects that as a taxpayer I don’t want. I would rather have a refund of my tax dollars. Sarasota was doing fine when taxes were $2000 on my son’s property and mine. Just a big rip off! I wish more people would speak up as we need to either get rid of property taxes completely or get them reduced by 2/3!
There is zero chance of property taxes being eliminated, I would have to say a very slim chance of them even being lowered. This is just yet, another lie for someone to hopefully get elected (his wife) as governor. If taxes were eliminated, who’s going to pay for maintenance of the streets, highways, local & state law enforcement, firefighters, schools? The list could go on and on. DeSantis did nothing in his 2 terms so far, to lower property taxes when it’s no secret property values have doubled, even tripled in some areas. Something will have to replace that lost revenue, perhaps a state income tax, tax on food? There is not enough revenue generated from Canadians nor tourism since it’s down to make a dent in the billions of property taxes. I’m all for lower property taxes but the options to replace them are limited.
The citizen’s of California got fed up and the politician’s squealed like stuk hogs when they passed California’s Proposition 13, in 1978 It limits property taxes by capping the tax rate at 1% of the property’s assessed value (plus voter-approved bonds) and restricting annual increases in the assessed value to no more than 2% per year. Property taxes are based on the property’s purchase price or a 1975 value, and this “base year value” is only reappraised to market value upon a change of ownership or new construction. Of course the politicians keep over-spending so they just keep increasing the state income tax rate.
I think to raise the current sales tax 2 or 3 cents that would go to the State and raise the Tourist tax rate from 6% or 7% to 10%. That would be more than enough to completely eliminate the property tax that currently brings in $60 billion. The increased Tourist tax would then bring in over $25 billion at current rate and would most likely increase year after year. The increased sales tax of 2 or 3 cents would cause to increase the amount well over the $60 billion currently taken in from the property tax. I suppose with reckless spending there could still be some form of property tax only on commercial properties and at a greatly reduced rate than we currently have. This would allow ALL residential properties in Florida to have their property tax eliminated. We would probably have quite an influx of people moving to and investing in Florida.