TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Gov. Ron DeSantis responded Thursday to Florida echoing President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, rejecting a freeze on the gas tax amid the Middle East war and warning of a potential mass exodus from Cuba.
DeSantis expressed deep skepticism about cutting the state gas tax to combat rising fuel prices amid the conflict with Iran. AAA, which tracks gas prices, said current per-gallon prices in the Sunshine State are about $1 higher than a year ago.
The Republican governor successfully pushed for a gas tax holiday in 2022, when former President Joe Biden is in office and DeSantis is seeking a second term. Democrats in the Florida Legislature last week called for temporarily suspending state and local fuel taxes, currently about 25 cents per gallon. But DeSantis said that even if the state suspends gas taxes, fluctuating oil prices could wipe out any potential savings for motorists.
“Our ability to affect fuel prices is really modest,” DeSantis said during a bill signing ceremony in Bradenton. “Sometimes prices go up so the consumer doesn’t notice a difference. If gas is $4 a gallon, whether you’re paying taxes or not, if you’re paying $4 people notice it, right? And I think when we’ve done that in the past… I don’t think the consumer really felt relieved.”
Florida legislators finished their annual session last week but are expected to return to Tallahassee in mid-April after failing to pass a new budget. Lawmakers could theoretically consider a gas tax holiday along with other budget-related measures.
DeSantis also spoke briefly about the situation in Cuba, which is going through a severe economic crisis after the US cut off oil supplies to the communist island nation.
The governor, who said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen in Cuba,” added: If “there’s more unrest, there could potentially be an exodus from Cuba.”
“We don’t think that’s acceptable,” DeSantis added. “We think they need to fix Cuba by getting a new government in Cuba. … But we don’t want to see huge groups of people washed up on the coast of the Florida Keys. And so we’re working on those contingencies. And the Trump administration agrees with us.”
Trump said earlier this week, “I think the end is in sight for Cuba,” and that they are a “very weak nation,” while Cuba’s president publicly acknowledged last week that talks between Cuba and the United States have taken place.
Florida, just 90 miles from Cuba, is home to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose family came from Cuba, as well as a large Cuban American population, including families who fled the country after Fidel Castro took power. The 1980s also saw a large influx of Cuban immigrants to Florida.
DeSantis suggested the Trump administration would work with state officials to ensure people do not come to Florida.
“They don’t want to see movement from Cuba to Florida,” the governor said of the Trump administration. “They would like people in Florida to come forward to help … hopefully there will be a new government in place. And so we’re going to get involved in that and protect our coastlines from that.”
DeSantis said a change in Cuban leadership alone would not be enough – the communist government needed to be replaced. He also expressed skepticism over reports that the Cuban government was planning to allow Cuban exiles to invest in companies in Cuba.
“People are not going to want to invest in that island under these current circumstances,” DeSantis said. “But all that being said, we have a chance, after many decades, to see a positive change in Cuba. It’s not an easy thing. It’s probably not going to be super orderly. I don’t know, and I don’t know what the Trump administration’s role is going to be in this, but I do know that the country has basically been in a communist prison for a long time.”
