What it is: A property tax reduction of up to $51,411 on your primary residence
Who qualifies: Florida homeowners living in their property as of January 1st.
Florida Homestead Exemption reduces a property’s taxable value by up to $51,411 for homeowners who own and occupy their primary residence as of January 1st. Whether you live in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, or anywhere else in Florida, this saves qualifying homeowners $500-2,000+ annually in property taxes.
Sounds good, right? However…
The Florida League of Cities, an advocacy group, is concerned about Governor DeSantis’ and the Florida Legislature’s move to eliminate property tax for full-time Florida residents through a series of moves that could cause some municipalities to collapse financially.
Here’s their position on the initiative that will be put before Florida taxpayers on the November ballot.
WHERE THINGS STAND
During the June 1–2 special session, the Florida Legislature passed a proposed constitutional amendment (CS/HJR 1-F) to be placed on the November 2026 general election ballot.
Constitutional amendments require 60% voter approval to pass. If approved, some key impacts would include:
▸ Increasing the homestead property tax exemption from $50,000 to $150,000, beginning January 1, 2027
▸ Further increasing the exemption to $250,000, beginning January 1, 2028
▸ Directing the Legislature to pass a future law — with no deadline specified — giving counties and cities authority to increase the homestead exemption further, up to full elimination
THE LEAGUE’S POSITION
The Florida League of Cities opposes this proposed amendment.
If passed by the voters, this amendment would dismantle how Florida’s cities fund the essential services residents depend on every day — police, fire, emergency response, roads, and infrastructure.
The Legislature passed this proposal without a review by the Revenue Estimating Conference — the body responsible for evaluating the fiscal impact of legislation like this.
Based on our initial analysis, the $250,000 homestead exemption will reduce funding for municipal services by approximately $2 Billion.
Yet the amendment provides no new state funding or plan for replacing the revenue that will disappear from local city budgets.
It’s not just about property taxes. It would fundamentally change how local government services are provided and financed.
Eliminating homestead property taxes will not eliminate the costs of local government. It will shift the burden onto all Floridians — through higher fees, new taxes, or reduced services — with renters and businesses bearing the greatest impact.
Sounds like a really bad Home Owners Association.
Sounds great for the many multiple thousands of us who retired here in FLA and would LOVE this to happen…BUT what comes next if it does? You have more experience than I do Andrea in this domain…..what’s your take on it?…..we’re in the #1 spot in Fla since Covd hit for people to ‘discover’ and migrate to….Marion County…we would love that migration to slow down by 99%….all of those folks up for election/re-election in our upcoming August 18th primary has this on their agendas……over development, along with AI Data Centers and taxes…..
In my opinion, ending or reducing the property tax might have unintended consequences, both good and bad. I’m watching it closely, but I can tell you than at least the 41 elected municipal mayors, vice mayors, and council members are pretty much in agreement that it will hurt, if not devastate their cities/towns/villages here in FL.
BUT!!! It’s long past time for each municipality to do a thorough “DOGE” of their budgets, (the cost of providing essential services, what they’re spending money on, and many other important factors. My city will soon undertake a line item budget review, as well as looking for ways to raise revenue.
There’s much more I could say, but I’ll leave you with this: IF a municipality is going to “go under” for lack of property tax revenue, they will likely be dissolved and annexed to a neighboring city. OR… as Gov. DeSantis has said, the STATE of FLORIDA will dole out (my word, not his) the funds to keep the muni afloat. However, as we know… any largesse coming out of our state capitol is likely to have strings attached. Thus giving Tallahassee even more control over our local governments.
Watch for my posts on information I have received from the Florida League of Cities, an advocacy organization that is steadfastly against DeSantis’ idea.
Thankyou! Will be watching for what you post ……found this guy on youTube…you may be already aware of him…he puts out some very interesting stuff on all subjects Florida…..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxLVgwuZ0o
Opposition always overtake the headline good news to make it bad news.
But sometime back there in the past, Desantis justified this proposal saying that the state of Florida has such a huge amount of money, which basically triggered the idea to reduce or eliminate property taxes.
He also said that counties and municipalities should undergo a DOGE type of audit. Why’s that?
Because available funds at the hands of those who don’t respect or care about various ethics, financial responsibility or the very source OF such funding or the strains it places upon the property owners. Every year.
It’s confusing, at least for me. All I know is even with my exemptions, over 1/3 of my mortgage payment is PPTaxes. Then adding the high cost of Home owners insurance in TX it is frustrating. I am hoping for Sr citizens to become exempt, but not sure where they will make up for that money. Especially with all the Schools they continue to build, then tear down and rebuild. I have mentioned before I am not happy with all the building choices, zoning, Stacked apartments, multiple emergency care facilities on every corner and infrastructure not being met in my city. Hoping they will get to the bottom of some of the corruption, that might help. I don’t know the answer, but hope they give us relief and figure it out. Abbott claims they are, praying he is right.
And I just saw a notice that my little city is in Debt, for $506 Million and has been given a recent NOTICE OF INTENTION TO ISSUE CERTIFICATES OF OBLIGATION.