How would property tax reforms impact Florida? The state’s number crunchers aren’t sure yet

As Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Perez continue to debate how worthwhile and successful eight property tax relief proposals will be, Florida’s top accountants are looking into how they’d financially impact localities statewide.

The answer is … to be determined.

Number crunchers from the Governor’s Office, Senate, House and Office of Economic & Demographic Research convened this week for the first of multiple Revenue Impact Estimating Conference meetings on the subject.

Those hoping to get numerical insights on how each of the proposed changes would affect homeowners and the budgets of their counties and cities surely came away disappointed.

The meeting Friday was solely focused on methodology and which of three expected levels of impact — low, medium and high — the Conference would examine in future discussions.

For most of the proposals, Conference members leaned toward considering the “high” impact. They reasoned that a full account of assessed property values is now available only for the last fiscal year, and that many other homes currently being built would add to the overall number by the time any of the proposed changes take effect.

For other proposals, including one that would exempt seniors from paying non-school property taxes on their homesteads, the Conference chose the “middle” option, since its scope was more immediately calculable.

The panel is set to meet again on the subject next week.

The joint resolutions the Conference discussed, which would go on the 2026 ballot for voter approval if approved in the coming Session, included:

— HJR 201 by Rep. Kevin Steele: Eliminates non-school homestead property taxes outright. If approved, homeowners would no longer pay city/county non-school levies on their primary residence.

— HJR 203 by Rep. Monique Miller: Phases out non-school homestead property taxes over 10 years by adding a new $100,000 exemption each year to a homeowner’s non-school tax base. After a decade, the non-school portion on homesteads would be fully exempted.

— HJR 205 by Rep. Juan Porras: Exempts Florida residents 65 and older from paying non-school homestead property taxes.

— HJR 207 by Rep. Shane Abbott: Creates a new homestead exemption for non-school taxes equal to 25% of a home’s assessed value. This broad exemption would cut bills for current homeowners and aid first-time buyers entering the market.

— HJR 209 by Rep. Demi Busatta: Establishes a property insurance relief homestead exemption by granting an additional $100,000 non-school exemption to homestead owners who maintain property insurance, linking relief to insured, more resilient homes.

— HJR 211 by Rep. Toby Overdorf: Eliminates the cap on “portability” of Save Our Homes (SOH) benefits, allowing homeowners to transfer their accumulated SOH differential to a new primary residence, even when the replacement home is of lesser value, thereby preserving long-built tax savings.

— HJR 213 by Rep. Griff Griffitts: Slows the growth in the assessed value of non-school homestead property taxes to 3% over three years for homestead property (currently it’s 3% per year) and 15% over three years for non-homestead property (currently at 10% per year).

— HB 215 by Rep. Jon Albert: Makes statutory changes, including requiring a two-thirds vote to increase millage rates and allowing newly married couples to merge their accumulated SOH benefits when establishing a shared household.

In unveiling the proposals Oct. 16, Perez said voters — not lawmakers — would ultimately decide if “some, all, or none” of the options would become law. He also emphasized two common features across the proposals: None would allow cuts to law enforcement funding, and all would exempt school taxes, which supply roughly 46% (about $21 billion) of school funding.