by Peter Samuels
If you are hoping to buy a home, or already renting one, you probably hate the idea of property taxes. It feels like a subscription service to your own life: you save up, buy a house, and then the government forces you to pay “rent” on it forever. If you don’t pay, they take it away. It feels unfair.
Because it feels unfair, politicians love to promise they will get rid of it. In 2024 and 2025, the internet was full of rumors that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis…and other conservative leaders…might abolish property taxes entirely.
But here is the reality check: It is never going to happen.
Not nationwide, and almost certainly not in Florida. While “Abolish the Tax” makes for a great bumper sticker, actually doing it would crash the economy, bankrupt local schools, and ironically, probably make buying a home even more expensive for you.
Here is the deep dive into why this tax is the “unflushable” toilet of American politics…ugly, but essential.
First, let’s look at the idea of a nationwide ban. You might hear people asking, “Why doesn’t Congress just pass a law ending property taxes?”
The United States is not one giant government; it is 50 separate governments in a trench coat. Under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, the federal government (the President and Congress) only has specific powers (like printing money or declaring war). Everything else belongs to the states.
Local taxation is a “state power.” Washington D.C. literally does not have the legal authority to tell a town in Ohio or a county in Texas that they can’t collect property taxes. If Congress tried to pass a ban, the Supreme Court would likely strike it down in minutes.
But let’s pretend, for a moment, that they could ban it. We would immediately run into a math problem that would make your student loans look like pocket change.
Local governments in the U.S. collect over $600 billion every year in property taxes. This isn’t “bonus” money. It is the paycheck for the people who run your daily life.
Public Schools: In most states, property taxes pay for the buildings, the lights, and the teachers.
Emergency Services: That ambulance that shows up when you call 911? Property taxes. The fire truck? Property taxes.
Infrastructure: The guys fixing the pothole on your street? Property taxes.
If you abolish the tax, you have to replace $600 billion immediately. The federal government is already $35 trillion in debt; they can’t just write a check to every town in America forever.
Americans are obsessed with “local control.” Right now, if your town wants a new park, you and your neighbors vote to pay for it. You have a say.
If you ban property taxes, your town loses its checkbook. They would have to beg for money from the state capital or D.C. Imagine if your local school board had to wait for permission from a bureaucrat 500 miles away just to fix a leaking roof. It would turn every local decision into a DMV-style nightmare of red tape. Neither Republicans (who hate centralization) nor Democrats (who love public services) want this.
Let’s say you don’t care about the Constitution or the schools. You just want your monthly payment to go down. Here is the economic trap: getting rid of property taxes might actually make homes more expensive for you.
This is an economic concept that screws over first-time homebuyers.
Right now, when you buy a house, the price is lower because the buyer knows they also have to pay taxes.
Scenario A (Now): You buy a house for $300,000. You pay a mortgage + $500/month in taxes.
Scenario B (No Tax): The tax vanishes. Suddenly, that house is a “free ride” asset. It is much more valuable.
Economists predict that for every $1 you save in taxes, the purchase price of the home goes up by about $10 to $20.
If taxes vanish, that $300,000 house might suddenly sell for $400,000 or $450,000. Sellers aren’t stupid; they will price the “tax-free” benefit into the home. You would end up paying the exact same monthly amount, but instead of that money going to your local school, it goes to the bank in interest on a massive mortgage.
Florida is ground zero for this debate. Governor Ron DeSantis has hinted at “eliminating” property taxes, calling them unfair. But even in a state where his party controls everything, this is hitting a brick wall.
Most states rely on a “three-legged stool” of taxes to stay upright:
Income Tax (Your paycheck)
Sales Tax (Your shopping)
Property Tax (Your home)
Florida is unique because it already chopped off one leg. There is no state income tax in Florida. The state runs entirely on the other two legs. If you chop off the Property Tax leg, the stool falls over. You cannot run the 16th largest economy in the world on sales tax alone…unless you make that sales tax insanely high.
Because of this, DeSantis has mostly engaged in what experts call “performative relief.” He signs bills that give small rebates or exemptions (like making baby items tax-free or giving breaks to seniors). These are nice, but they aren’t abolition. They are small patches on a giant tire.
Eliminating the tax in Florida would leave an $80 billion hole in the budget. To fill it, the state would have to do something drastic.
The only way to kill the property tax in Florida (or nationwide) is to jack up the Sales Tax. This is known as a “Tax Swap.” For a 25-year-old, this is arguably the worst possible outcome.
To replace property taxes in Florida, experts estimate the sales tax would need to jump from 6% to somewhere between 12% and 18%.
Imagine buying a $30,000 car.
Current Tax (6%): $1,800.
New Tax (15%): $4,500.
That is a massive hit to your wallet.
A “regressive” tax is one that hurts poor people more than rich people.
The Rich Guy: A CEO living in a $10 million mansion in Miami pays a massive property tax bill. If that tax is abolished, he saves millions. Does he spend all that money at the grocery store? No. He invests it. He avoids the high sales tax.
The Regular Guy (You): You earn $50,000. You spend almost all of it just to survive…food, clothes, car repairs, gas. If the sales tax triples to 15%, your cost of living explodes. You end up paying for the tax cut the billionaire just got.
“But I rent!” you say. “My landlord pays the property tax, so this helps me, right?”
Wrong.
If the government kills property taxes, do you really think your landlord is going to text you and say, “Good news! I’m lowering your rent by $300 a month!”?
Of course not. Rents are set by “the market” (supply and demand), not by the landlord’s costs. Your landlord will likely keep the rent the same and pocket the extra profit.
Meanwhile, you still have to pay the new 15% sales tax on your clothes, electronics, and car. You get hit twice.
The “End of Property Taxes” is a classic political zombie: it keeps coming back, but it’s not alive.
It’s Illegal: The Federal government can’t force it.
It’s Unaffordable: States can’t fill the budget hole without destroying schools or police.
It’s a Trap: The alternatives (massive sales taxes) would likely hurt young people, renters, and the middle class far more than the current system does.
The system we have is painful, yes. Writing that check hurts. But the alternative is a centralized, high-sales-tax nightmare where houses cost even more and your local library has to hold a bake sale to keep the lights on.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). Quarterly Summary of State & Local Tax Revenue. (Data confirming property taxes account for ~72% of local tax revenue).
Florida TaxWatch. (2024). The Economic Impact of Eliminating Property Taxes in Florida. (Analysis detailing the $80 billion revenue gap and the necessity of a 12-15% sales tax to replace it).
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). (2025). Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States. (Detailed breakdown of why sales tax swaps are regressive and transfer wealth from low-income to high-income households).
WFSU News. (Oct 2025). Gov. Ron DeSantis has dismissed the Florida House’s property tax proposals. (Reporting on DeSantis calling abolition proposals a “political game” rather than a serious legislative agenda).
Minneapolis Fed. (2024). How higher property taxes increase home affordability. (Academic research on “capitalization,” explaining how lower taxes inevitably lead to higher home purchase prices).
Constitution of the United States. Amendment X. (The legal basis preventing federal interference in state tax authority).
Florida Constitution. Article VII. (The state legal framework requiring local funding efforts for schools, making simple abolition unconstitutional without an amendment).
*****
Get the Aetherian Realm’s Final Judgments Map: https://georgemagazine.com/product/aetherian-realms-final-judgments-map/
Get Ageless Tech. Using AI to Your Advantage: https://georgemagazine.com/agelesstech/
Get George’s America’s 250th: https://georgemagazine.com/product/america-250-celebrating-legacy/
Get America’s 250th George Magazine T-Shirt: https://georgemagazine.com/product/americas-250th-george-magazine-t-shirt/
Get The George Dispatch: https://georgemagazine.com/thedispatch/
Get George Magazine. Print or Digital: https://georgemagazine.com/subscribe-george-magazine/
Get George Junior. Print or Digital: https://georgemagazine.com/subscribe-george-junior-magazine/
Get George’s Crypto E-Playbook: https://georgemagazine.com/product/the-crypto-playbook-by-george-magazine/
Visit Project Looking Glass: https://projectlookingglass.org/
Discount Applied Successfully!
Your savings have been added to the cart.
