May 19, 2026 • 6 mins
Ryan, Dana, and Chris Trenkmann discuss Governor Ron DeSantis' plan to eliminate homestead property taxes and Senator Rick Scott's reaction.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys from Tampa House.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning, Chris, Good morning. So, Governor Desatas still hasn't
released his plan to eliminate some or all of the
Floridians homestead property taxes, but he is continuing to try
and sell Flordians on the effort. So ahead of his
final push before the big election to Santas is conducting
roundtables offering the familiar arguments about how the plan would
(00:30):
offload the burdens of homeowners to.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Tourists and others.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And he also at a roundtable yesterday, took issue with
the progressive nature of the property tax. He brought up
the idea that if you own a four hundred thousand
dollar house and an eight hundred thousand dollar house, it's
not fair to the eight hundred thousand dollars homeowner because
they don't charge more, They don't need more services than
(00:55):
somebody who owns a house half as much, so why
should they pay more in property taxes? So his idea
is just to get rid of it all. There's just
one problem, and this has been the problem with his
idea from the beginning. How do you make up the
lost revenue when you do that, And he still has
yet to give any specifics other than that other people
will pay for it. He said that the state's wealthy
(01:16):
enough that there are surpluses in the state government. He
said that the local government spend too much and there's
enough tourism that they can pick up the tab. He
didn't say anything about possibly raising sales taxes, which is
a logical replacement for getting rid of the property tax,
and he also mentioned that it is probably likely that
(01:37):
rural communities will have to get subsidized in some way,
which is ridiculous to cover the costs of losing that
revenue because in rural communities they don't have some of
the same revenues that bigger communities have, and the property
tax is essential to paying firefighters and police and other services.
And how would you cover that if you eliminate the
property tax, Well, you probably have to shift money away
(01:59):
from the bigger counties.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, I mean that that just makes no sense to me.
So you're going to have, you know, the more populated
areas subsidizing the more rural areas of the state. If
you're going to get rid of the property tax, then
just get rid of the property tax and.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
That shakes out.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, but I just don't understand how we could be
this far into this process. This is the governor's big push.
He still hasn't released a plan.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
What is this ridiculous? You're hearing about it because it's
not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's very much uh, you know, like what we hear
from President Trump sometimes with the healthcare plan two weeks
you know too. Desands is kind of doing the same
thing with this property tax issue. And at this point,
like you should know what you want and lay it
out there and how it's all going to work and
bring that to the voters. As you're going around the
(02:53):
state pushing for this massive change.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
House Speaker designate Sam Garrison doesn't like the idea because,
you know what, he has to take over the House
and figure out how these communities are going to operate.
Ron de Santas is not going to be in office
no after early next year, and therefore he can talk
up all these big plans and have absolutely no consequences
to suffer later on. He's not going to be the
governor that's going to have to deal with the very
(03:17):
difficult issue of finding funds for communities if the property
taxes eliminate, right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Look, I think you talk to most people who pay
property taxes and they would say, well, I love not.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
To have to pay that.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, but you have to be able to have a
functioning state here and without that, I mean even and
I know you have the story next Chris. Senator Rick Scott,
It's like, how are you going to make this work?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Senator Rick Scott, who is a former two term term
governor of Florida, is not endorsing Governor de Santus's plan.
Now you might think, well, those two don't like each.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Other, they do not thank each other.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That Rick Scott's not going to endorse much of anything
to do with Governor De Santas. However, he brings up
a good point. He's like, look, people have to be
able to have a well functioning community. You have to
be able to fund firefighters and police properly. And he
said that Florida already operates one of the leanest state
governments in the country and therefore this idea that you
(04:21):
need to just wipe out the property tax is not
a good idea.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
He says.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
The better way to do it is what he did
when he was governor. You chip away at the millite rates,
you lower it in certain areas, you give benefits to
certain groups, you know, veterans and others. But to just
eliminate it and then have to subsidize counties and you know,
start shifting money away from you know, big areas to
smaller communities.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
That whole thing. He doesn't endorse that at all.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And I do also think there are major investments that
we still have to make in this state. I mean,
infrastructure and transportation is a disaster in most of this state,
especially in some of the more high populated areas, that
to be dealt with. You've got a combination of the
state and local governments needing to deal with something like that.
(05:05):
And looming over the whole raised ballpark issue in the
Tampa Bay area is what happens if property.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Taxes do end up getting eliminated.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What happens if this goes in the ballot, people vote
for it, and all of a sudden, now you have
a revenue source that's going to dry up locally, and
maybe you need some of those funds that are being
allocated towards a new ballpark and redevelopment project. I mean,
these are the things that officials have to think about
(05:38):
right now because you just don't know where this is going.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I'm with Dana.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I don't think this is going to happen, but you know,
you put something on the ballot, you just don't know
how voters are going to vote.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
But at least the state can afford giving away twenty
two million dollars worth of land to the owners. Yeah,
you know they've got money.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
For that, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So I think you're starting to see more and more
resistance to this, mainly because there aren't a lot of
great alternatives out there, at least none that anybody has
brought to the table. And you know, you cannot call
Senator Rick Scott someone who's not fiscally conservative and is
a low tax Republican. And even he's coming out and saying,
(06:17):
you know, trying to make this work doesn't seem logical
to me.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, And I think that Desantas has had plenty of
time to outline what he wants to do. Yeah, and
he's put all of his surguits in tough spots too.
You know, the Lieutenant governor has been asked the same question,
are you going to pay for it?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Well, you know, we're still working on it.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That's becoming it's just getting old, I think, especially when
we're in the election year.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Follow the show and give us your hot take on
TikTok and YouTube at Ryan Gorman Show presented by Farah
and Farah Accident Attorney's, Tampa
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys from Tampa House.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning, Chris, Good morning. So, Governor Desatas still hasn't
released his plan to eliminate some or all of the
Floridians homestead property taxes, but he is continuing to try
and sell Flordians on the effort. So ahead of his
final push before the big election to Santas is conducting
roundtables offering the familiar arguments about how the plan would
(00:30):
offload the burdens of homeowners to.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Tourists and others.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And he also at a roundtable yesterday, took issue with
the progressive nature of the property tax. He brought up
the idea that if you own a four hundred thousand
dollar house and an eight hundred thousand dollar house, it's
not fair to the eight hundred thousand dollars homeowner because
they don't charge more, They don't need more services than
(00:55):
somebody who owns a house half as much, so why
should they pay more in property taxes? So his idea
is just to get rid of it all. There's just
one problem, and this has been the problem with his
idea from the beginning. How do you make up the
lost revenue when you do that, And he still has
yet to give any specifics other than that other people
will pay for it. He said that the state's wealthy
(01:16):
enough that there are surpluses in the state government. He
said that the local government spend too much and there's
enough tourism that they can pick up the tab. He
didn't say anything about possibly raising sales taxes, which is
a logical replacement for getting rid of the property tax,
and he also mentioned that it is probably likely that
(01:37):
rural communities will have to get subsidized in some way,
which is ridiculous to cover the costs of losing that
revenue because in rural communities they don't have some of
the same revenues that bigger communities have, and the property
tax is essential to paying firefighters and police and other services.
And how would you cover that if you eliminate the
property tax, Well, you probably have to shift money away
(01:59):
from the bigger counties.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, I mean that that just makes no sense to me.
So you're going to have, you know, the more populated
areas subsidizing the more rural areas of the state. If
you're going to get rid of the property tax, then
just get rid of the property tax and.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
That shakes out.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, but I just don't understand how we could be
this far into this process. This is the governor's big push.
He still hasn't released a plan.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
What is this ridiculous? You're hearing about it because it's
not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's very much uh, you know, like what we hear
from President Trump sometimes with the healthcare plan two weeks
you know too. Desands is kind of doing the same
thing with this property tax issue. And at this point,
like you should know what you want and lay it
out there and how it's all going to work and
bring that to the voters. As you're going around the
(02:53):
state pushing for this massive change.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
House Speaker designate Sam Garrison doesn't like the idea because,
you know what, he has to take over the House
and figure out how these communities are going to operate.
Ron de Santas is not going to be in office
no after early next year, and therefore he can talk
up all these big plans and have absolutely no consequences
to suffer later on. He's not going to be the
governor that's going to have to deal with the very
(03:17):
difficult issue of finding funds for communities if the property
taxes eliminate, right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Look, I think you talk to most people who pay
property taxes and they would say, well, I love not.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
To have to pay that.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, but you have to be able to have a
functioning state here and without that, I mean even and
I know you have the story next Chris. Senator Rick Scott,
It's like, how are you going to make this work?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Senator Rick Scott, who is a former two term term
governor of Florida, is not endorsing Governor de Santus's plan.
Now you might think, well, those two don't like each.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Other, they do not thank each other.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That Rick Scott's not going to endorse much of anything
to do with Governor De Santas. However, he brings up
a good point. He's like, look, people have to be
able to have a well functioning community. You have to
be able to fund firefighters and police properly. And he
said that Florida already operates one of the leanest state
governments in the country and therefore this idea that you
(04:21):
need to just wipe out the property tax is not
a good idea.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
He says.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
The better way to do it is what he did
when he was governor. You chip away at the millite rates,
you lower it in certain areas, you give benefits to
certain groups, you know, veterans and others. But to just
eliminate it and then have to subsidize counties and you know,
start shifting money away from you know, big areas to
smaller communities.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
That whole thing. He doesn't endorse that at all.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And I do also think there are major investments that
we still have to make in this state. I mean,
infrastructure and transportation is a disaster in most of this state,
especially in some of the more high populated areas, that
to be dealt with. You've got a combination of the
state and local governments needing to deal with something like that.
(05:05):
And looming over the whole raised ballpark issue in the
Tampa Bay area is what happens if property.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Taxes do end up getting eliminated.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What happens if this goes in the ballot, people vote
for it, and all of a sudden, now you have
a revenue source that's going to dry up locally, and
maybe you need some of those funds that are being
allocated towards a new ballpark and redevelopment project. I mean,
these are the things that officials have to think about
(05:38):
right now because you just don't know where this is going.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I'm with Dana.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I don't think this is going to happen, but you know,
you put something on the ballot, you just don't know
how voters are going to vote.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
But at least the state can afford giving away twenty
two million dollars worth of land to the owners. Yeah,
you know they've got money.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
For that, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So I think you're starting to see more and more
resistance to this, mainly because there aren't a lot of
great alternatives out there, at least none that anybody has
brought to the table. And you know, you cannot call
Senator Rick Scott someone who's not fiscally conservative and is
a low tax Republican. And even he's coming out and saying,
(06:17):
you know, trying to make this work doesn't seem logical
to me.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, And I think that Desantas has had plenty of
time to outline what he wants to do. Yeah, and
he's put all of his surguits in tough spots too.
You know, the Lieutenant governor has been asked the same question,
are you going to pay for it?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Well, you know, we're still working on it.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That's becoming it's just getting old, I think, especially when
we're in the election year.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Follow the show and give us your hot take on
TikTok and YouTube at Ryan Gorman Show presented by Farah
and Farah Accident Attorney's, Tampa
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