Rick Scott pushes again for homeowners’ insurance tax break

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Sen. Rick Scott is running back a bill that could offset insurance costs for homeowners in Florida and across the nation.

The Homeowners Premium Tax Reduction Act would offer an above-the-line tax deduction of up to $10,000 for premiums on primary residences.

That would accommodate median homeowners everywhere in the state, including Miami, where the average policyholder pays just over $5,000 a year.

“While property insurance is managed on the state level, the federal government has the opportunity to lower costs for families by establishing an above-the-line federal tax deduction for homeowners’ insurance premiums. My Homeowners Premium Tax Reduction Act is a great opportunity to directly ease this burden and give families more breathing room in their budgets,” Scott says.

Scott, a former Governor through 2018, has been outspoken about the market and rates that have “skyrocketed” in the state under successor Ron DeSantis. He’s said high rates were “bankrupting” the state and described the state’s insurance marketplace as a “disaster.”

For his part, DeSantis says the market was “stable” after previous turbulence. More than half of those in Broward and Miami-Dade on Citizens Insurance are getting price reductions year over year, he said earlier this year.

Michael Yaworsky, the Commissioner of Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation, also said earlier this year that the market is in a good place.

He told the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee in January that “most people are managing to afford insurance,” the cost of which has stabilized at around $3,700 per household.