JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled his plan to phase out property taxes for Florida homeowners on Wednesday morning.
Under that plan, if it’s approved by Florida lawmakers next week and ultimately by Florida voters in November, the homestead exemption in Florida would rise from $50,000 to $250,000 starting next year.
The legislature would then be tasked with setting a schedule for the full phaseout of homesteaded property taxes.
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“A $250,000 limit that eliminates property tax for 60 percent of Florida homeowners. Once you put a schedule in, and this would be something that we work with the legislature on after the vote is taken in November, if it’s successful, when you raise to $500,000 limit, that’s 92 percent of all Florida residents would be tax-free. I think this bottom-up approach is a better approach,” said DeSantis.
For some residents like Mike Beasley, who has been trying to buy a home, the tax relief could make homeownership an achievable goal.
But he said he’s skeptical it will really happen.
“I’d have to see it to believe it,” said Beasley.
The expanded homestead exemption proposed by the Governor would impact both school and local government revenues.
Remaining property tax revenues would have to be spent on core services like schools, police, and fire.
The Governor explained the state would establish a trust fund under the plan to backfill local school and government budgets to ensure those core services remain fully funded.
“Send them money. You know, education, we’ll send money,” said DeSantis.
But that state trust fund idea is already facing pushback from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
State Representative Dean Black (R-Yulee) said he worries that giving Tallahassee that much power over local spending decisions could backfire in the future.
“You could see a Democrat mayor and a Democrat governor using this as a way to unleash Pandora’s box of defunding the police,” said Black.
State Representative Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) fears Republican lawmakers and local governments may also have very different views about what constitutes a “core service”.
“Like public libraries, public parks, after-school programs, animal shelters,” said Ekamani. ”I would argue that these are core services, but for someone like Governor DeSantis, he might not agree.”
The Governor’s proposal would come with restrictions on new Florida residents.
Those who move to the state after the enactment of the amendment would be subjected to the current property tax scheme for five years before qualifying for the new exemptions.
Local governments would also be restricted in their ability to shift the tax burden to businesses, with the Governor calling for the 10 percent annual cap on property tax increases for commercial properties to be lowered to five percent.
Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Bartow) issued a statement applauding the Governor’s plan.
“I believe this amendment will provide meaningful relief for Florida families, while protecting businesses from extreme tax increases and safeguarding local funding for public safety, education, and our clean water infrastructure,” Albritton wrote.
House Speaker Daniel Perez (R-Miami) was less celebratory.
“We are pleased the Governor has finally gotten around to share an actual proposal. We look forward to reviewing it once we have received the language,” Perez said in a statement.
Representative Black said he’s pleased with the proposal overall and expects the legislature to pass a final product next week.
“At the end of the day, the Florida Legislature does not get to pass this as law,” said Black. ”The citizens of Florida are going to vote on a constitutional amendment. If you like it, vote yes. If you don’t, then you should vote no.”
Lawmakers are set to gavel in for the special session on property taxes on June 1st.
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