Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would call a special legislative session for Monday to get an initiative on the November ballot to eliminate homestead property taxes.
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“And that will be historic,” he said at a news conference in Tampa on Wednesday.
But, the governor said, the proposal will have to be “phased in” to ensure support from the Legislature and voters.
“And so the proposal… will begin with an initial raising of the homestead limit to $250,000 for all Florida homeowners, with then the Legislature commanded to enact a schedule that will lead to a full elimination of the homestead limit,” he said.
The Homestead Exemption is a property tax benefit that currently can save homeowners up to $50,000 on the taxable value of their primary residence.
The increase to $250,000 “would eliminate property tax for 60 percent of Florida homeowners,” the governor said.
The amendment would require 60 percent of both the Florida House
of Representatives and the Senate to make it to the ballot. From there, it would require the approval of 60 percent of voters to pass.
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“Focusing on homestead I think is a way to show, look, we think that there’s too much money going from taxpayers to these local governments,” DeSantis said. “Obviously you’ve got to run services, but all the time the tax payers is having to pay more and more for basically the same level of services they would’ve gotten 10 years ago when their property tax bill was a lot less.”
In February, NBC6 Responds examined how the measure could impact homeowners if it passes.
An analysis from the Broward County Property Appraiser estimates that property owners would save an average of about $1,800 per year. Our analysis of data from the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser shows that homeowners in Miami-Dade could see average savings of around $1,500 annually.
However, the measure would significantly affect local county and city budgets.
In Miami-Dade, our analysis of property tax data indicates the county could lose approximately $500 million in revenue. In Broward County, officials estimate a budget reduction of about $329 million.
At the city level, some smaller municipalities could be hit even harder because a larger portion of their budgets comes directly from homestead property taxes. Our analysis found that Cooper City could see a 35% decrease in its budget, Tamarac could face a 33% reduction, and Plantation could experience a 23% decrease.
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