California (Make That Florida) Here I Come!

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. Over the next seven years, more than 300,000 people poured into the former Mexican territory seeking their fortune as part of the Great California Gold Rush. About half of them came by sea and the other half by land via the California Trail and the California Road.

The height of the California Gold Rush was 1849, hence the term, “49’ers”.

While most of California’s new residents were Americans, “gold fever” attracted thousands of people from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and even China. As a result, new roads, churches, schools and towns were built – and existing ones such as San Francisco grew from 200 people in 1846 to 36,000 in 1852. By 1849, California had adopted a constitution and a year later, it was admitted to the Union as our 31st state.

So, what does the Golden State in 1850 have to do with the Sunshine State in 2025?

Well, hang on to your hat, pardner, because there is about to be another mass influx of people from across America seeking a once-in-a-lifetime financial opportunity. Only this time, they won’t be pouring into California, but Florida. And the reason won’t be to prospect for gold, but to avoid skyrocketing property taxes.

Over the past 50 years, Florida’s population has grown from 8.5 million to almost 24 million, with an estimated 467,000 new residents each and every year. As a result, the Sunshine State now ranks third in population in the entire country, leapfrogging over New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio in recent years.

This population boom accelerated during the Covid pandemic when people in restrictive blue states got tired of the mandatory lockdowns, mask mandates, and shelter-in-place orders and flocked to what Gov. Ron DeSantis promoted as the “Free State of Florida”. Northerners were buying homes sight-unseen off the internet and paying 10-15% above the asking price, driving real estate prices to record highs and creating a statewide housing crisis in the process.

Well, as the old saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Last week, Gov. DeSantis announced that he was asking the state legislature to vote in the next session to abolish property taxes throughout Florida. If they abide by the governor’s request – and what officeholder up for re-election is going to vote against eliminating an unpopular tax? – the question will be placed on the November 2026 ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment.

If 60% or more of Floridians vote to eliminate property taxes – and again, who in their right mind would against such an amendment? – you can wave bye-bye to those increasingly burdensome taxes… and hello to an massive influx of northerners seeking such relief from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Floridians often complain about their property tax bills, which average just under $3,500 per year for a median priced home. However, homeowners in Connecticut pay an average of $5,838… which increases to $6,017 for residents of Massachusetts and a whopping $8,290 in New Jersey.

Having lived in the Garden State for 51 years, I know people who were paying more than $15,000 per year in property taxes when our family left there for the sunny South in 2011. I can only imagine what they are paying now… and what they will do when they find out that Florida is planning to abolish property taxes in the near future.

Ah, but there’s a catch!

First, Gov. DeSantis’ immediate plan is to offset the lost property tax revenue by increasing taxes on the tourism and hospitality industry such as hotels, rental cars, etc. In other words, get non-Florida residents to help pay the bill.

Second, Florida’s version of D.O.G.E. (the Department of Government Efficiency) is hoping to find hundreds of millions of dollars in potential waste and fraud, the savings from which could be applied to the lost property tax revenue.

Third – and this is a big one - to be eligible to have your property taxes eliminated, you will have to have been a Florida state resident for a certain length of time. No newbies need apply.

For now, this is all conjecture and speculation. However, don’t think for a minute that people in New Jersey aren’t chomping at the bit as they daydream about working remotely from their sun-splashed patio, porch, or poolside deck in Florida.

I just wish I owned a U-Haul dealership in Bayonne.