Why Some Florida Leaders Are Backing the Property Tax Plan
In Florida Property Tax Relief: What Voters Will Decide in November, we walked through what the property tax amendment headed to the November 3 ballot would actually do. Now we look at why supporters say it should pass.
Governor DeSantis has been pushing this idea for over a year. In the past week he has been on Fox News, on his social media, and at events from Tampa to Pasco County. The argument he and other backers are making rests on a handful of points worth understanding in their own words.
Start with the size of the bill. In his May 27 announcement, DeSantis said the total amount of property taxes collected by Florida cities and counties has nearly doubled over the past seven years, from $32 billion to $60 billion. His office expects it to hit $83 billion by 2032 if nothing changes. He blames part of that on local governments raising rates and on home values rising.
If approved, once the homestead exemption reaches $250,000 in 2028, the Governor says about 60 percent of Florida homeowners with a homestead would owe zero county or city property tax. He has hinted at raising the exemption even higher, possibly to $500,000. According to Bloomberg and Fox 29, at $500,000 about 92 percent of Florida homesteaders would pay zero non-school property tax.
The plan does not change how vacation homes, rental properties, second homes, or commercial real estate are taxed, beyond dropping the annual value-increase cap from 10 percent to 5 percent. DeSantis put it bluntly on May 27. “If some billionaire from Brazil is buying something, tax them. I’m looking out for Floridians.” A regular Floridian’s primary home gets the break, and a beach house owned by a wealthy out-of-state buyer does not.
Newcomers will face a five-year waiting period. DeSantis told reporters in Brevard County, per the Florida Phoenix, that he does not want “every Tom, Dick, and Harry from out of state moving and rushing to buy a home here because they get a tax benefit.” Anyone who establishes Florida residency after January 1, 2027 has to live here for up to five years before they can claim the bigger exemption.
The bill’s Senate sponsor, Republican Bryan Avila of Hialeah, defended the design during floor debate Tuesday. According to WCTV, Avila said the bill does not stop local governments from charging “any sort of special assessment or fee” to make up for lost revenue. “The natural inclination of local governments should be to look at their spending,” he said.
Senate President Ben Albritton sent senators a memo on May 27 supporting the plan. Per Click Orlando, Albritton wrote, “I can’t think of a more meaningful way to celebrate America’s 250 than the passage of $250,000 in tax relief for every Florida homeowner.” House Speaker Daniel Perez was drier. Per NBC Miami, Perez said, “We are pleased the Governor has finally gotten around to share an actual proposal.”
Support was not strictly along party lines. Three Democratic senators voted yes: Mack Bernard of West Palm Beach, Daryl Rouson of St. Petersburg, and Barbara Sharief of Miramar. Leon County Commission Chairman Christian Caban, also a Democrat, told WCTV he could accept the trade-off. “It might be a hit on our budget for property taxes and our general revenue. However, that’s money going right back into taxpayers’ hands, and we’re not even going to take it in the first place.”
The bluntest argument came from State Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia. Per Yahoo News, Ingoglia said, “Taxpayers are sick and tired of their local governments taxing and spending, crying poor, saying they don’t have the money and then come back to you as an endless ATM asking for more, more, more.”
The Governor’s office set up a website with a tax calculator. You can plug in your Polk County address and see what you would have saved on your 2025 tax bill if the plan had been in place.
In our next article, The Other Side of the Property Tax Vote: What Local Leaders Are Warning About, we look at what local leaders here in Polk County are saying about how this amendment could affect city and county budgets if voters approve it.
Sources: Office of the Governor of Florida press release dated May 27, 2026 (flgov.com); Click Orlando, NBC Miami, WCTV, CBS Miami, Florida Phoenix, and Yahoo News reporting from May 27 to June 3, 2026; Bloomberg and Fox 29 reporting summarized by Moneywise dated May 30, 2026.
