Florida lawmakers have approved a major property-tax overhaul and sent it to voters in November, putting one of the most ambitious tax changes in decades on the ballot after a special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The package combines resolution HJR 1-F and implementation law SB 4-F. It passed the Senate 30-9 and the House 75-26, a wide margin that shows how far the idea has moved in Tallahassee even as lawmakers argued over how far it should go. If voters approve it in the November general election, the constitutional change would start reshaping homestead taxes in 2027 and 2028.
Under the proposal, the Homestead exemption for primary residences would rise from $50,000 to $150,000 on Jan. 1, 2027. A year later, on Jan. 1, 2028, the first $250,000 in assessed value would be deductible. The benefit would apply only to primary homes, and it would not touch school taxes.
That limit is not an accident. Legislators carved school taxes out of the measure after warning that removing them would create multibillion-dollar deficits for the education system, even as the broader package moved ahead with overwhelming support. The result is a plan that promises a large break for homeowners while leaving one of the state’s biggest funding streams intact.
DeSantis argued the change is needed because local governments’ property-tax collections have nearly doubled in seven years, from $32 billion to nearly $60 billion. He said those collections could reach $83 billion by 2032 if the trend continues. His case helped drive the special session, which was called exclusively to address property-tax reduction.
The open question now is how cities and counties would absorb the revenue loss if voters approve the measure. That pressure will not disappear just because the exemption is written into the state constitution, and the next fight will likely be over which local services get squeezed first. For homeowners in condado de miami-dade and across Florida, the ballot vote in November will decide whether the tax break becomes real or stays a campaign promise.
