JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the end of his term nears, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wants to make a major push to lower property taxes in Florida.
“We need to limit these property taxes in more ways than we do,” DeSantis said Friday during a news conference.
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DeSantis said one way that could happen would be to raise the homestead exemption for Florida homeowners. He said he wants to address property taxes to offset ongoing issues like rising interest rates, increasing home costs and homeowners insurance.
“Home prices have gone up. Part of it is inflation, but part of it in Florida is demand. It’s a lot of people that have demand to live here in Northwest Florida. I mean, it’s a hot spot and so, you have the home prices going up, interest rates have gone up. So people want to get a mortgage. That’s more difficult,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said a major change in property taxes would require a constitutional amendment because the legislature or the governor can’t make changes alone. The amendment would likely not go before voters until 2026.
When someone owns a property and makes it his or her permanent residence or the permanent residence of his or her dependent, the property may be eligible to receive a homestead exemption up to $50,000.
The first $25,000 applies to all property taxes, including school district taxes. The additional exemption of up to $25,000 applies to the assessed value between $50,000 and $75,000 and only to non-school taxes, according to current Florida statutes.
If the assessed value is $100,000, the first $25,000 of value is exempt from all property tax, the next $25,000 of value is taxable, the third $25,000 of value is exempt from non-school taxes, and the remaining $25,000 of value is taxable, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
DeSantis said he plans to work with the Florida Legislature before his term ends in January 2027 to get a possible constitutional amendment on the ballot to address the homestead exemption.
“We can’t control private markets, but we can control how much they can tax you. So we’re going to be working over the next year and a half to see what we can present for voters to be able to vote in the next election for some major, major property tax limitations and reliefs,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis on Friday did not specify how much he wanted to increase the homestead exemption.
Jacksonville City Council member Matt Carlucci said city budgets would suffer if the change is approved by voters.
“I’d love to say, yeah, great. Let’s go with the $25,000 homestead exemption, more, 15 or whatever. But then, while I’m all excited about that, then when it comes time to balance the budget, I’m going, oh gosh, we’re in deep shish kebabs. Where are we going to get the extra money from?” he said.
Carlucci said that if the homestead exemption is increased for Florida homeowners, that would take money directly out of the budget of Florida cities, leaving independent city governments on their own to scramble to pay for city services.
“It’ll make it harder on city government to invest in the basic public services, public safety, along with, you know, trying to invest in the quality of life, type of projects that we have in the city,” he said.
Carlucci said cities around the state, and local municipalities are already trying to find ways to pay for more law enforcement, trash pickup and other basic necessities.
