Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is commenting on Florida’s theme park tourism industry yet again.
Just about a year after the governor’s long-running feud with Disney finally simmered down, DeSantis has once again brought theme parks into the Sunshine State’s political conversation, this time in regard to an ongoing debate over the state’s property taxes.
DeSantis has been calling for an end to the state’s property taxes and recently suggested that raising taxes on tourists visiting the state could be a way to make up for the lost revenue.
According to Orlando Sentinel, in response to a reporter’s question on his property tax proposal, DeSantis responded, “Tax the tourists. Tax some of the foreigners. You have the ability in some of those areas that draw a lot of people to shift the tax burden away from your own people to people that are not residents of Florida. I think that would be a better tax system than constantly having people pay higher property taxes.”
DeSantis also suggested that “rural areas” of the state that don’t draw the same amount of tourism dollars as others could offer tax breaks and other financial concessions to draw manufacturers like automakers to offset the loss of property tax revenue. “They don’t have the same luxury that a Broward County would have or a Miami-Dade County would have when you have people that are flooding down there… I would say, pay no tax for 10 years, like no corporate tax if you’re starting a business, if you’re doing manufacturing there.”
The day after making these comments, DeSantis wrote, “Hospitality is an essential part of Florida’s success story” as part of a Facebook post marking Tourism Day in the state.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has suggested raising taxes on tourists visiting the state as a way to offset potential losses from his plan to eliminate or drastically cut property taxes. Stay tuned to AllEars for further coverage of how Florida’s political landscape affects the theme park industry.
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Sorry Ronny – you raise the taxes on tourist…and I take my Disney dollars to CA and Paris!
I live in England and pay tax on my property. Why should I pay the tax on Floridian’s properties as well?
From what is said in this article, DeSantis seems to want to encourage manufacturers to Florida as the main business. That will take time to develop. Why bother when you have a great tourism industry already?
great way to encourage people to not visit your state. i won’t be back until there’s a new governor anyway.
A lot of people don’t seem to understand why this is so bad. Getting rid of property taxes means getting rid of education funding. Majority of school funding comes from property taxes and it would take an insane amount of sales tax to make up for the loss in already very low property taxes. Not to mention increasing sales taxes, especially in the amount needed to replace property taxes, would skyrocket the cost of living for everyone making florida even more unlivable for over 50% of the people who live here. Throw in that any substantial increase on the cost of vacationing here would mean a lot fewer people would abandon vacationing in florida for other states with similar offerings. Want to go to disney and the beaches? California is an option. Just want beaches? All of the south has beaches, choose a state. This would greatly harm our tourism industry, which is the majority of our economy. Tarrifs and the international response to them have already cut tourism business by almost 1/3, we really wanna do more damage?
sadly – FL doesn’t care about education. They have book bans, and teachers are prevented from saying certain phrases or teaching certain subjects. FL wants them stupid.
Okay not a Florida resident and am okay with a sales tax. I just have to say, living in a state without any sales tax, or state income tax Our property tax is also going up and I am sure is the same as or more than Florida’s property taxes. We make it through. I can see an increase in hotel taxes as that would affect mostly tourists but then you may start losing tourists. Just my thoughts and opinions.
Hey Disney: We would love to have a Disney Canada. Disantis is making it clear that he resents the tourists. With Climate Change, we in Canada may become the Country with sunshine and warmth year around.
I’m all for increase in sales tax and no property tax.
I assume you’re not a renter then, unlike a growing majority of the working class. If you are then I question your logic. This would only drive up the cost of living, especially when you factor in how much sales tax would have to increase to make-up for the lost tax revenue. We already have extremely low property taxes, there is no reason to abolish them except to allow real-estate companies and people hoarding multiple properties for profit richer. This much of an increase on the cost of living would drive just about anyone who rents out of Florida. Honestly it’s kind of similar to what caused San Francisco and the bay area to tank. They made taxes next to nothing for real-estate and tech companies which ultimately drove up the cost of living. Not even 10 years later there was a worker shortage and massive tech companies and the California government started having to invest hundreds of millions into affordable housing projects that still aren’t complete. This wouldn’t bennefit the average floridian and with tourism being our largest industry doing anything to risk destroying that industry would be idiotic.
I don’t see why a charge would be or should be added to visitors from outside the state,as it pays towards schools and emergency services and other things that basically are of benefit to the locals
Gov. DeSantis forgets that we ALL become tourists while we visit Disney! He needs to forget about his petty fight with the company that brings and has been bringing the people and the money to his state for years!
Right. Not to mention, paying taxes to our state is part of the duty of being a resident. It isn’t Billy Bob driving down from Georgia with his family’s responsibility to make sure our schools are properly funded. If it gets too expensive for him to drive down here to go to sea world he’ll just get a spirit airline ticket to go to the one in San Antonio. We may be one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world but making that more expensive for people will just drive people to other options. We’re one of the biggest, not the only. Also how do you target tourists? Flights? What if I fly to Missouri or California to visit family? I have to fly back, do I get taxed even though I live here? Increase sales tax? So now my groceries are even more expensive? Increase sales tax just in popular tourist destinations… well I live in orlando and have worked for the parks so everything will still be expensive. This is just the dumbest economic policy I’ve ever seen.
Sales tax increase. The only logical solution that will affect every single person in the state who buys anything.
Myself and my family have been paying Florida property taxes since we bought our first home in 1983. I certainly feel an individual that owns a home, and specially now, have no school-aged children living at home anymore, you still required to pay all the taxes for schools etc. The only logical solution to eliminate property tax is to increase sales tax. Sales tax increase will benefit the Florida government to spend as frivolously as they have been over the years. A sales tax increase works for every individual, even the homeless bum that lives under a bridge, when they go into a convenience store to buy a beer and some chips. Increasing the state sales tax to 10, possibly 12% will benefit homeowners.
We too live out of state and visit 3-4 times a year but honestly if the price goes much higher, that’s not happening.
Also, the state has alrwady been getting plenty from tourists in the form of taxes on hotels and purchases. I really wish Disney would build another park further north. They could easily make the money there.
I used to hold a high opinion of Gov. DeSantis. I no longer do. His is fight with Disney was petty and childish.
He is a term limited, lame duck who is irrelevant in national politics and this is his way of screaming for attention and approval.
I’m an out of state Passholder and have been for a number of years. I visit anywhere from 3 to 6, maybe 7 times a years. As a tourist I contribute plenty to Florida’s economy.
Disney has been raising prices for years and now Florida decides to get in and people are upset?