A.G. Gancarski
House Speaker Daniel Perez says action is coming to provide property tax relief, but not until 2026.
Perez lauded Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “exciting and provocative” proposal to end property taxes, even as he criticized the Governor for not suggesting any specific language for this Legislative Session (although DeSantis was specific in saying he wanted a referendum on more than one occasion).
“As the weeks have gone by, the Governor has yet to come forward with … any specific plan, or with actual bill language,” Perez said, suggesting the House will fill the void.
“It’s my intention to pass our House property tax plan during the first week of the 2026 Session,” Perez said.
The Select Committee will meet through the Spring, Summer and Fall. Republican Reps. Vicki Lopez and Toby Overdorf will serve as Chairs.
And it will deal with five proposals, intended to be a “springboard” for discussion:
— Requiring every city, county and special district to hold a referendum on the elimination of property taxes, to drive an “honest conversation” about services.
— A $500,000 homestead property exemption for non-school property taxes, with an increase to $1 million for senior citizens and those with a Florida homestead for at least three decades.
— Allowing the Legislature to raise homestead exemption by statute as a workaround for referendums.
— Changing the homestead exemption cap from 3% a year to 3% every three years, and reducing the non-homestead level from 10% annually to 15% every three years could, Perez said, provide stability in tax payments and slow local governmental growth.
— Banning government from foreclosing for unpaid taxes.
“These proposals are simply a starting point,” Perez said, asking members to bring their “ideas” and saying legislators will “hear” any proposal from DeSantis.
“This is about bringing the very best proposals to the people of Florida so they have an opportunity to decide their own fate,” Perez said. He added that the House is seeking to do something “the Governor and the Senate were willing to do” and “apply the same revenue restrictions to ourselves that we are asking local governments to endure.”
DeSantis has said foreign tourists and hotel taxes could make up for the elimination of property taxes, via efforts to “offload the tax burden to non-Floridians.”
2 comments
tom palmer
April 29, 2025 at 1:40 pm
A lot to unpack there. Obviously it is not unfair to ask any government agency to justify how it spends the money it gets from you in taxes. Why school districts are treated differently is an interesting question. Another question is how having no skin in the game will affect civic involvement. Unmentioned were voter approved property tax levies that are already in place via a referendum. Also unaddressed is a growing issue of indexing non-ad valorem assessments for things like fire and rescue and garbage collection, which is a kind of a stealth tax increase by government agencies that can always concoct a list of “needs.” I wonder if the tax deed procedure would apply only to homes or would it be expanded to vacant lots in the middle of nowhwere.
tom palmer
April 29, 2025 at 1:48 pm
One more thing to consider. In cases where you have a voter-approved property tax levy, it would be interesting to conduct an analysis of how all of these proposed tax exemptions, should they come to pass, would affect the revenue to fund whatever the voters wanted funded by their local referendums. That is, will the tax base tank or will it have just a minor effect. Happy studying!