Property Taxes

PROPERTY TAXES

Property Tax Relief Headed to the Ballot in November – After a special session on the budget and another one to redraw congressional maps, the Legislature returned to Tallahassee the first week in June for yet another special session (the sixth in the last two years).  Governor DeSantis called the session to consider his just released proposed property tax constitutional amendment that would provide tax relief on an unprecedent scale.

The amendment has many provisions, the main one being an increase in the homestead exemption to $150,000 on January 1, 2027, and $250,000 on January 1, 2028.  New Florida residents would have to wait five years to qualify for the increased exemption. The Governor proposed that this new exemption would apply to all property tax levies, including those for schools.

The amendment would also reduce the cap on non-homestead property assessment increases from the current 10 percent to five percent.

The remaining property taxes levied by local governments could only be used for “core local services” such as public safety, education, infrastructure, debt, and retirement benefits.  The amendment directs the Legislature to create a state trust fund to help local government fund these core local services.

The Legislature took up the Governor’s plan less than week after it was made public. The Legislature approved the joint resolution and accompanying general bill, but not before making some big changes. Lawmakers shielded school property taxes from the increased exemptions, which will reduce tax savings by approximately 38 percent. Also removed was the requirement that the state create a trust fund to help local governments pay for “core services.” Lastly, the Legislature made a very broad addition to the definition of “core services”—the operations, administration, and expenditures approved by county officer and county and municipal governing bodies.

The state Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met 10 days after the Legislature passed the joint resolution to adopt a fiscal impact estimate. The REC predicts a tax savings/local government revenue loss of $5.0 billion in the first year (FY2027-28), growing to $10.7 billion in FY2030-31. The Legislature did not have this estimate when they debated the proposal.

To see all the provisions in the proposed constitutional amendment (HJR1F) and the linked general bill (SB 4F), along with how the Legislature changed the Governor’s proposal, see this analysis. It also details why Florida TaxWatch finds that the hurried evaluation and adoption of what could be by far the largest change to the fiscal structure of Florida government in our state’s history was unwise and unnecessary.

OTHER PROPERTY TAX LEGISLATION

LEGISLATION THAT PASSED

Property Tax Provisions in the Tax Package (HB  7031E) – These include:

• Mobile Home Park Assessment Limitation – The assessed value of long-term mobile home parks may not increase by more than three percent a year, just like the Save Our Homes limitation for homestead property. This is the largest recurring tax cut in the tax package ($65.2 million annually).
• Deployed Servicemember Exemption – Adds six military operations that qualify service members for a property tax exemption for the time they were deployed. (7.8 million annually).
• Assessments for Agricultural Property – Provisions to provide more favorable assessments for property used for composting and packinghouses.
• Added Save Our Homes Portability – Allows the transfer of accrued benefit from any homestead abandoned by the taxpayer in the prior three years, instead of only the immediate prior homestead.
• Allow VABs to hear appeals related to timely filing of a TPP tax return.

For more detail and all the provisions in the Tax Package, see Appendix A.

LEGISLATION THAT DID NOT PASS

Passed House Only

Elimination of Non-School Homestead Property Taxes – The House approved a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 203) for the November 2026 ballot that would eliminate all non-school property taxes on homestead properties. The bill that came to the floor proposed a 10-year phase out, but it was amended to full, immediate repeal. If the amendment made the ballot and was approved by the voters, taxpayers would save, and local governments would lose $14.7 billion, by far the largest tax cut in Florida’s history. The Senate did not take it up and never put forward a proposed property tax constitutional amendment. 

Passed Senate Only

Assessment of Wind Resistance Improvements – SB 434 would have prohibited increasing the assessed value of residential property based on improvements made to enhance wind resistance.

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) – SB 48 would have prohibited denial of a homestead property tax exemption solely because a property contains an ADU and requires separate taxation if the ADU is rented. The bills also required local governments to allow ADUs in single-family residential areas (see Housing section).

DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB 450 would have increased the transferable ad valorem tax exemption for surviving spouses of certain disabled veterans and first responders from 100 to 120 percent of the most recent tax roll amount. It was also in the Senate tax package. SB 450 passed one committee and the provision was not included in the final tax package..

SB 1520 would have amended the Live Local Act’s “Missing Middle” property tax exemption opt-out provision to provide that an exemption may be granted to a project that received final site plan approval within 1 year before a taxing authority opted out and may continue receiving the exemption after the opt-out. The bill passed one committee. However, a similar provision passed in HB 1389 (see Housing section).

PROPERTY TAX PROVISIONS REMOVED

HB 755, which passed, extends funding of $5 million annually from the Florida Forever Trust Fund for land acquisition within the Florida Keys Area of Critical State Concern to fiscal year 2035-2036. The original bill also loosened eligibility criteria for the Live Local property tax exemption for affordable housing properties in that area (ten or more affordable units reduced to one or more). HB 755 passed but the property tax exemption was removed.

FILED, BUT NEVER MOVED

SB 272 would have provided a 100 percent exemption from property taxes (excluding school district levies) for seniors that have lived in the home for five years and have household income of no more than $350,000.

SJR 274 would have prevented any increase in assessed homestead value after 20 continuous years of ownership and residency and grant a new 50% homestead tax exemption, excluding school district levies, for owners residing on their property for 30 years or more.

SJR 278 would have limited the assessed value of new homestead property that was less than $500,000 before a change of ownership to no more than 150% of the previous year’s assessed value.

SJR 282 would have provided commercial real property owned by small businesses with a benefit equal to Save Our Homes, limiting annual increases in the assessed value to 3% or inflation, whichever is lower.

SB 286 would have established a new formula for assessing changes, additions, or improvements valued under $100,000 by applying the ratio of the property’s assessed value to its just value. It would have excluded from the new formula any changes, additions, or improvements that replace most of the property or increase total square footage by more than 25%.

SJR 550/HJR 1277 would have prohibited levying ad valorem taxes on tangible personal property.

HJR 787 would have removed the authority of counties and school districts to levy ad valorem property taxes. HB 791, contingent on the passage of HJR 787, would have replaced lost revenue to school districts by increasing the state sales tax from six percent to nine percent. The revenue for counties would be replaced by a five percent documentary stamp tax surcharge.

HJR 793/SJR 1210 would have authorized the Legislature to exclude inherited homestead property transfers from being treated as changes in ownership for property tax assessments, allowing the inherited property to keep any accrued Save Our Homes benefit.

HB 799/SB 932 would have required the Legislature to appropriate funds to fiscally constrained counties to offset ad valorem tax revenue reductions resulting from a future constitutional amendment.

HJR 903 would have reduced the maximum annual increase in assessed value of nonhomestead properties from 10 percent to 3 percent.

HB 957 would have limited homestead tax payment deferrals to properties valued at $1 million or less and increase the minimum value of tax certificates for public sale from $250 to $500.