Ha Eric 
Paste this in a terminal and press enter
cat<<\ICONTOGGLE > icontoggle.desktop
#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=bash -c '[ "$( gsettings get org.mate.background show-desktop-icons )" = "true" ] && gsettings set org.mate.background show-desktop-icons false || gsettings set org.mate.background show-desktop-icons true'
Icon=/usr/share/icons/Adwaita/16x16/legacy/zoom-fit-best.png
Name=desktop-icons-visibility
Comment=toggle visibility of desktop icons
ICONTOGGLE
drag and drop the result onto the panel 