Ron DeSantis has a secret.

He tried to raise your taxes. By a lot. We’re not kidding.

In Congress, Ron DeSantis wrote and sponsored legislation — three times — that would have introduced a federal sales tax. It would raise taxes on 80 percent of Floridians.

If Ron DeSantis had his way, Floridians would have to pay a 23 percent federal sales tax on everything we buy.

Everything. Groceries. Gas. Clothing. Medicine. Everything.

That would be disastrous. It would destroy the middle class, rob seniors of their savings, and devastate the most vulnerable.

DeSantis’ record in Congress offers a chilling preview of what he might do if elected Governor of our state. Under a DeSantis administration, Floridians could suddenly find their grocery bills increased by hundreds of dollars. Even worse, their federal tax bill could increase by thousands. The consequences would be devastating: families would be bankrupted, businesses would be destroyed — and the only people who would benefit would be the very wealthiest.

The DeSantis Tax:

The extreme tax plan DeSantis wrote would hurt almost everyone in Florida — small businesses, working families and seniors. The only people that would benefit would be Ron DeSantis’ billionaire donors and Donald Trump’s friends. Suddenly, the basic items you need to live could become unaffordable.

According to the Treasury Department, the costs on working families would be dramatic:

● DESANTIS WOULD MAKE A SINGLE MOTHER PAY UP TO $5,463 MORE IN TAXES. DeSantis’ plan is cruel — a single mother with one child making $20,000 per year currently pays $723 in total federal taxes (including both the employee and employer shares of the Social Security and Medicare taxes). Under the DeSantis Tax, her tax bill would go up to $6,186 — an increase of over 750 percent.

● DESANTIS WOULD MAKE A MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY PAY $6,553 MORE IN TAXES. Under the DeSantis Tax, a married couple with two children making $40,000 per year would pay an additional $6,553 in taxes — an increase of more than 110 percent.

● WHO WOULD DESANTIS BAIL OUT? THE RICH. A married couple with two children and $300,000 of income currently pays about $89,000 in total federal taxes. Under the DeSantis Tax, this family would get a windfall, only paying about $72,000 — a tax cut of 19 percent.

The DeSantis Tax Would Lead to Disaster

According to Forbes, President George W. Bush’s Tax Reform Panel more than a decade ago studied the tax for which DeSantis fought in Congress. That panel concluded “that the rates would have to be much higher than promised … would be very regressive … would be extremely expensive, hard for taxpayers to manage, and complex for the IRS to administer.” The panel also found that the tax “would result in widespread evasion and create real problems for states that rely heavily on their own sales taxes.”

Consumers Would Be Shocked By the DeSantis Tax

According to the Tax Policy Center, “if this tax ever did become law, it would induce staggering sticker shock among consumers and massive evasion would follow. ‘Paper or plastic’ would be replaced with a new question at the checkout line: ‘How much for cash?’”

Even Republicans Oppose the DeSantis Tax

DeSantis’ tax hike has drawn sharp rebuke even from members of his own party. During the gubernatorial primary, current Republican Party of Florida spokesperson Meredith Beatrice tried to raise the alarm about the threat a DeSantis administration posed to Florida.

In a press release, Beatrice said that “D.C. DeSantis three-times cosponsored a bill that would have imposed a 23 percent tax on everything we buy, robbing seniors and destroying the middle class.” Beatrice made clear that during his time in Washington, DeSantis had shown Floridians who he was. We should believe her.

Even conservative think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute think it’s a bad idea, saying “the math of the FairTax is simply unfair to middle-income America and conflicts with fiscal reality.”

Don’t Believe the DeSantis Spin

Supporters of policies similar to the DeSantis Tax like to claim a tax prebate — a monthly check sent by the government to every family in America, regardless of income — would prevent sharp tax increases on the middle class. That’s a lie.

Study after study has found that even with a prebate, a 23 percent federal sales tax would increase the burden on the middle class. The fact is, even if a prebate did protect the lowest-income taxpayers, the wealthiest do not spend enough to pay for the program. This leaves only one possibility: a massive tax hike for working families. One study found that even with a prebate program, 95 percent of taxpayers would see a tax hike under the DeSantis Tax.

Misleading, or Misplaced Priorities?

It’s easy not to tell the whole story on the DeSantis Tax. In fact, disgraced and vanquished gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam received a “Mostly False” from PolitiFact for being “skimpy on details” when clumsily attacking the DeSantis Tax.

But here, we’ve laid out in real numbers — taking into account the plan’s regressive tax tricks — how the DeSantis Tax would devastate Florida’s working- and middle-class families and seniors.

That same PolitiFact article highlighted the real dangers of the DeSantis Tax, not only for Floridians, but for businesses, too:

“[T]his would be a regressive tax plan, where poor and middle-class families pay more than wealthy households. The sales tax would apply to every purchase, even essentials like food and shelter, which comprise a larger portion of a low-income earner’s budget. … The bill might, for example, have a major impact on vacation destinations like Florida, which leans on tourism and its state sales tax. According to Jon Hamilton, finance professor at the University of Florida, higher sales prices would incentivize foreign tourists to visit cheaper destinations instead, like Cuba or the Bahamas.”

Don’t believe us? Scroll to the bottom to see how much Floridians in each county would pay for food and other necessities, if the tax Ron DeSantis introduced three times actually passed.

It’s a Matter of Priorities

It’s another example of Ron DeSantis having the wrong priorities for Floridians. DeSantis spent his time in Congress voting to make Floridians’ healthcare and drug prices more expensive. He voted to slash benefits that Florida’s seniors have worked for their whole lives — including raising the retirement age to 70. DeSantis even backed legislation to voucherize Medicare and cut $350 billion from the program — such dramatic cuts, it would essentially end Medicare as we know it.

Those misplaced priorities underscore the irony of Ron DeSantis screaming about Mayor Andrew Gillum’s common-sense “Fair Share for Florida’s Future” plan.

Only 3 percent of Florida corporations pay any state corporate income tax — and those that do pay only 5.5 percent, lower than conservative neighboring states like Alabama and Georgia.

Mayor Gillum has proposed a modest 2.25 percent adjustment of our state corporate income tax, from 5.5 percent to 7.75 percent. This would generate $1 billion for investment into our public schools, teachers, and students — giving a raise to our teachers whose pay ranks 47th worst, rebuilding our crumbling schools, and ensuring all of Florida’s children the quality education they deserve.

No Floridian would pay a dime more in their taxes under this plan. Period.

Gillum is asking our state’s wealthiest corporations to pay 2 percent higher taxes, to educate our children. DeSantis has asked our state’s families and seniors to pay a 23 percent federal sales tax, to give enormous tax breaks to billionaires like Donald Trump.

No wonder they call Ron DeSantis the “billionaire whisperer” — he’s running for them. Andrew Gillum is running for us.

Don’t take our word for it. Beatrice, the Republican Party spokesperson, said it best about DeSantis: “Since when do we let politicians deny their record? His record in Congress is an indication of what he could do to our state.”

Records matter, Ron.