Against Gov. Ron DeSantis' wishes, Democratic denunciations and local governments' concerns, a Florida House committee on Thursday approved a long list of proposals to reduce property taxes.
"These proposals create instability, increase taxpayer inequities, and risk the quality of life for the residents who choose to live in cities," Charles Chapman from the Florida League of Cities told lawmakers before the votes.
Seven of the measures are proposed constitutional amendments that ultimately would have to be approved by Florida voters, since property taxes are embedded in the state Constitution. One is a bill that makes some technical changes.
"Local government property tax is increasing at an unsustainable rate and is causing undue financial burden on Florida's citizens, homeowners and businesses," said Republican Rep. Toby Overdorf of Palm City, the chair of the House Select Committee on Property Taxes. "It is time to put money back in the hands of Floridians."
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been loudly calling for reducing homeowners' property taxes, but he hasn't released a specific plan. He has criticized the House's multitude of proposals, saying putting more than one on the ballot would make them all fail.
Overdorf emphasizes they're early in the process. The legislative session doesn't officially begin until January. Senate leadership has not said what it wants to do.
"This is kind of a beginning process where we are. Session hasn't even started yet, and until that hanky drops ... there might be a lot of changes prior to that time," he said.
The hanky drop symbolizes the end of session, which will be in March. House Democrats, meanwhile, warn the proposed cuts would mark the end of important local government services that are funded by property taxes. They opposed the proposals.
The proposals "haven't been vetted enough, haven't been fully thought through, and so we had to be no votes today," said Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa. "They're not narrowly tailored enough to adjust for and account for the differences in our counties."
And Driskell said property taxes aren't the most pressing of Florida's affordability issues.
"Let's look at regulating the property insurance industry," she said. "Let's look at real relief that brings that down. Let's look at real solutions on housing affordability."
Affected local governments would not be able to reduce law enforcement funding under the proposals, and school property taxes would be exempt from reductions.
School taxes make up just under 40% of Floridians' property tax bill on average, according to a 2022 analysis by Florida TaxWatch.
Here's the list of seven proposed resolutions, which must be approved by three-fifths of the Legislature and then three-fifths of Florida voters:
- HJR 201 — Eliminates non-school homestead property taxes.
- HJR 203 — Phases out non-school homestead property taxes over a decade.
- HJR 205 — Exempts residents 65 and older from paying non-school homestead property taxes.
- HJR 207 — Creates a non-school property tax homestead exemption equal to 25% of the assessed value of the house.
- HJR 209 — Creates a $100,000 non-school homestead tax exemption for residences with property insurance.
- HJR 211 — Eliminates the cap on portability, which lets homeowners transfer tax savings from their previous place to a new one. This means a homeowner can transfer their Save Our Homes tax cap benefit to a new home.
- HJR 213 — Limits how much the assessed non-school property tax can grow for a home, from 3% every three years instead of 3% annually for homestead property, and 15% over three years for non-homestead property instead of 10% per year.
A bill that only requires legislative approval and DeSantis' signature, HB 215, would make various changes including requiring a supermajority vote from a local government to pass a property tax increase and allowing newly married couples to combine their Save Our Homes tax cap benefits.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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