Democrats Raised Your Property Taxes Twice and Blocked Trump’s Tax Cuts… But Sure, They ‘Care About Working Families’

What will we do without Governor DeSantis? America’s best governor is not relaxing and sitting back for his lame duck year, which if anyone were entitled to coast, it would be this man. But —among many others— Governor DeSantis continues pressing his initiative to end property taxes on Florida homesteads, hard. You may recall that earlier this year, the Governor said, “If I go to Best Buy and buy a TV, I pay sales tax, but I don’t keep paying taxes on it year after year!”

DESANTIS: “You should own your home free and clear!

To say someone who’s been in their home 35 years has to keep ponying up money..

You don’t own your home if that’s the case!

If I go to Best Buy and buy a TV I pay sales tax but don’t keep paying taxes on it year after year!” pic.twitter.com/sgv7GIhKbc

— Chris Nelson 🏝️🇺🇸 (@ReOpenChris) May 9, 2025

There is no doubt that property taxes violate the Constitution, which forbids government from taking private property without just compensation. Taxing property —whether homes or bank accounts— is a “taking.” But if you ask defenders why it survives, they will wave their hands around and invoke customs and history. In other words, we’ve just always done it that way.

Sales taxes, on the other hand, levy taxes on transactions, which is constitutionally permissible. So DeSantis’ point is well taken: if homes were taxed like TVs, there would be no Constitutional problem, and even better, it would line up local government incentives in the right direction. They would want local policies that encouraged growth, so there would be more sales, and increased property values, with better schools, roads, infrastructure, and fewer rainbow crosswalks.

🔥 I bring up this older DeSantis news to frame the next astonishing article. On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a shocking story headlined, “Delco residents prepare for a 19% property tax hike — the second double-digit increase they face in two years.”

Delaware County’s commissioners don’t care what voters think. “Facing fury from residents,” the Inquirer reported, “the all-Democrat board voted 4-1 on Wednesday to approve a $340 million budget that raises the county portion of property taxes +19%.”

Delco residents shouldn’t complain. At least it was less than last year’s +23% property tax increase. The stated reason? Because of Bidenflation and because covid relief money ended. Thanks, Joe Biden.

“Our strategy is not just to increase revenue but to decrease expenses,” County Chair Barbara O’Malley said, right before increasing revenue and increasing expenses. The county’s newest budget, passed along with the tax hikes, boosted spending by +6%.

In other words, flush with federal covid funds, Delco went spending crazy. Since Democrats took over in 2020, they: took over the jails from private contractors, created a brand-new health department, and spent oodles on legal fees defending all their new initiatives.

Now the federal covid grants are gone. So instead of cutting anything, they went straight after property owners to make up the difference and allow continued spending. “Absent this increase tonight, we would run out of money,” shrugged Councilmember Kevin Madden, who terms out this year.

Everyone enjoys the feast; no one washes the dishes.

Seniors and young people are affected worst. “I own my home, but I’m behind on my taxes because the taxes are so high,” resident Maureen Mitchell told the commissioners at a Monday budget hearing. “Something’s gotta give for the seniors, we’re losing our homes.”

Democrats were re-elected to all five county seats this past November, despite the tax increases. Before 2020, Delco was a Republican stronghold for over 100 years. In 2019, Democrats successfully tagged Republicans with overly high property taxes in Delaware County. WITF headline, November 2019:

I know. Haha. The irony. It’s just lies, all the way down, like dead turtles. Will Delaware County voters remember?

This story offers a profound lesson for Republicans facing next year’s midterms.

🔥 You might properly wonder at this property tax-hiking strategy. Democrats are currently running on a vague affordability platform. Why increase property taxes, which are among people’s highest annual expenses? Taxes are added to mortgage payments, increasing homeowners’ monthly housing burden and making it harder for young people to buy homes. It’s no help to rent; landlords just pass higher property taxes to tenants.

It is almost like, if it weren’t for double standards, then Democrats … well, you know the rest.

But wait! There’s more! Two days ago, Fox ran a story frozen out of corporate media, headlined, “Bessent blasts Democrat-led states for blocking Trump tax relief in OBBBA.” Most states with income taxes (not Florida!) let their citizens claim the same exemptions provided under the federal tax code.

But several blue states, like Colorado, New York, and Illinois, as well as the District of Colombia (DC), have now decoupled their state tax codes, carving out all the exemptions from the OBBBA, like tax relief for tips, overtime, and social security. So a nurse or waitress in those states won’t pay federal taxes on tips and overtime, but will still have to pay state taxes.

The layers of Democrat hypocrisy are truly onion-like. First, Democrats created the affordability problems they’re now complaining about, through pandemic-era Bidenflation. Now they are actively doing whatever they can to surge citizens’ costs, by boosting property taxes and thwarting federal tax relief. And yet, ironically, they clearly plan on running next year on an affordability platform.

Useless corporate media contributes to the problem, by uncritically reprinting Democrats’ mendacious claims that the Republicans are somehow causing affordability problems. It’s not enough to sit back and wait for someone else to do it. We must help educate our fellow citizens where the affordability crisis is really coming from.

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