Polls have closed in North Central Florida, and in most of the state minus many counties in Florida’s Panhandle – but elections offices are now counting votes for a ballot measure that could drastically cut property taxes.
The ballot measure, known as Amendment 3, proposes sweeping changes to Florida’s property tax system and is seen to be one of the most key issues on this year’s ballot. Some of the proposals include expanding homestead exemptions and placing new caps on property assessment increases.
To be approved, the amendment would have to meet a 60% minimum threshold of favorable votes.
Property taxes are the largest source of revenue for local governments in Florida, according to counties and cities who warned lawmakers of grave impacts throughout a special session held over the summer.
A legislative report during the special session found that these property tax cuts could lead to multiple billions in lost revenues for counties, which help fund public entities including law enforcement, schools, emergency services, libraries, animal services and other public infrastructures.
Currently, the first $25,000 in the assessed value of a homestead property is exempt from all property taxes, according to the Florida Department of Revenue. An additional exemption for non-school taxes applies to the portion of a property’s assessed value between $50,000 and $75,000.
The ballot measure, however, increases the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027, and then to $250,000 in 2028.
Although Gov. Ron DeSantis urged lawmakers to take action on property taxes for more than a year, this issue remained contentious even among Florida Republicans – although it ultimately was approved in a legislative session.
But many of the Florida GOP, over several months, has campaigned to tell voters to fill out a yes-vote, although major state groups who traditionally back Republicans – like the Florida Sheriff’s Association and police and fire unions – have vocally opposed the measure. Florida’s Republican Senate President Ben Albritton also announced during early voting that he’d vote against the measure.
Tim Marden, Alachua County’s Republican party chair, said he believes the tax cuts will support Floridians, in an interview Oct. 21. He said it’s an “interesting dynamic” of Democrats “encouraging people to vote against a tax decrease in Amendment 3.”
“Most people want to lower their taxes, it’s just very strange that they do not want to do that and they’re explicitly advocating against doing that,” Marden said.
But tax cuts won’t result in the decrease in expenditures Florida residents are expecting, said Jackson Peel, a spokesperson with Save Our Services, a political committee campaigning against the property tax ballot measure.
He said cutting this amount of government revenues means that other taxes may face increases, like food and beverage taxes, Additionally, he said local governments would have to reduce services or find other sources of revenue.
“That’s gonna gut the local services that we all rely on every day. I’m talking about police, firefighters, ambulances, disaster preparedness and recovery, programs for kids, programs for seniors,” Peel said. “All of that is going to have to get cut or we’re all going to end up paying new, other taxes.”
The amendment also states a goal for the legislature to fully eliminate all non-school property taxes.
For non-homestead properties, which includes second homes, the amendment would reduce the annual assessment increase cap from 10% to 5%, limiting how quickly the taxable amount of those properties could rise.
The amendment would also establish a residency requirement of 5 years to qualify for the homestead tax exemption, but all permanent residents of Florida before Dec. 31 will receive the exemption.
Polls close at 7 p.m. local time in Florida, 8 p.m. ET in the western Panhandle. See all other Florida election resultshere and complete Florida voting coveragehere.
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