“Across social media and other public spaces, we’re seeing strong indications that Floridians have cracked the code on Amendment 3. It’s packaged prettily, as a massive property-tax cut for people who own their homes. But many Floridians have figured out that this amendment will kneecap local governments — shifting fiscal control to legislators and bureaucrats in Tallahassee and forcing counties and cities to beg for funding to sustain libraries, recreational programs, health services and programs that benefit children, seniors and homeless people. In some communities, even funding for essential services like public safety and roads will be strained.”
“In brief, Amendment 3 raises the homestead exemption, for those who have owned their homes in Florida for at least five years, to $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028 with annual inflation adjustments ever after. It also halves assessment increases on non-homestead property to 5% a year, and calls on the Legislature to establish a way for local governments to repeal homestead taxes entirely if they choose.
But the ballot language doesn’t tell the whole story. While individual households might see some benefit, the burden of taxes is likely to shift to people who can’t afford to purchase homes, and the small businesses that fuel Florida’s economy.”
“What’s even more appalling is the way Amendment 3 ended up on the ballot: Rammed through on a three-day session with little discussion of its true cost. During debate, lawmakers repeatedly cited fake “audits” by Blaise Ingoglia, who is currently acting as Florida’s chief financial officer, as proof that local goverments were overspending. In reality, Ingoglia’s stunt presented meaningless numbers stripped of any relation to fiscal reality.
The estimates from state economists came later: $5 billion in the first year, when the new homestead exemption covers $150,000, and nearly $12 billion a year after when the exemption goes up to $250,000.
There’s a reason Florida’s most trusted leaders, including sheriffs and conservative organizations such as Florida TaxWatch, are lining up against this measure. It stinks.”
“Political opportunism
Nobody enjoys paying taxes or seeing their money misspent. We understand that. But this is the wrong remedy at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons.
It is political opportunism by a governor, Ron DeSantis, who still thinks he sees a president in the mirror, and by legislators who passed his version after taking stabs of their own. They thought for themselves only long enough to spare public schools, a small concession that predictably caused the prickly DeSantis to distance himself from the property tax cutting that he had initiated in the first place.
Technically, the Republican Party of Florida supports this measure, though many local leaders who are also members of the GOP oppose it. The same goes for Realtors, whose statewide organization put $10 million into promoting it. But we’ve seen posts by individual real-estate professionals in this area who understand that the short-term economic self-interest is overshadowed by the damage Amendment 3 would do to our communities.
The Legislature didn’t think about that, either.
Or how it would “drive up home prices over the long run and will make it harder for young families to gain access to the housing market,” ”
Read the full Editorial Board Opinion on the Orlando Sentinel