Proposed homestead property exemption expansion gives illusion that government can be free
Appropriately coinciding with the official start of hurricane season Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a special legislative session to push his “Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes” plan to slash, if not eliminate, property taxes
The State Legislature obliged, passing a constitutional amendment which would increase the amount of the state’s homestead property exemption from $50,000 of a home’s assessed value to $150,000 in 2027, and $250,000 by 2028. The measure would not impact local school taxes.
The constitutional amendment would require governments to use tax funds “solely for core public needs including public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, and natural resources;” and would limit property tax assessment on businesses; would require Floridians who move here to maintain residency for up to five years before getting the tax break and would create a state trust fund to “provide grants to local governments to assist with the continuation of core local services.”
The bill now goes in front of voters this November, 60% of whom will need to approve the referendum for the “Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes” measure to become law.
In his announcement calling for the increased exemption, DeSantis said the amount of “property tax revenue collected by local governments has nearly doubled in the past seven years.” What this statement does not also include is that Florida has seen the fastest population growth in the country during this time, spurred on by the covid pandemic. In addition, not all towns and cities have seen their budgets grow equally, and the largest portion of a homeowner’s tax bill is their school taxes. During this time, we have also seen a large growth in charter schools, with families pulling their students out of public schools – as we have seen in our own county.
A couple of things which we shared when the governor first proposed reform he maintains will help homeowners, especially lower income and fixed income property owners stay in their homes.
First and foremost a tax is a tax is a tax.
Call it an “assessment” or a “fee” or what have you, if it’s property-based it’s a tax on property even if it’s not technically a property tax, that “ad valorem” based levy that Gov. DeSantis would like to eliminate.
For many of us, the “property tax” portion of our tax bill is the tip of the tax iceberg.
Services covered by property taxes before the state legislature created carve outs, one example being the “re-capture” for fire protection expenditures after the real estate collapse wreaked havoc on funding for special districts. Municipal agencies, including the Cape Coral Fire Department, then piggy-backed in with the new funds supplementing general fund budgets that have long since ballooned back and then some.
Let us be blunt: These various and sundry “assessments” have become an end run around constitutional millage caps, Homestead protections and, for church-owned properties, taxes that aren’t exempt.
Not only that, assessments are not tied to property values and may be increased at will by local taxing authorities.
In places like Cape Coral, where undeveloped parcels are plentiful or valuations are low, the cumulative non-ad valorem levies can and often do exceed the actual property tax portion of the tax bill.
Let us say it one more time: Call them assessments, call them what you will — a tax is a tax is a tax.
And the tax man too often doesn’t care from which pocket he gets paid.
As we stated in September, if Gov. DeSantis’s goal is to protect homeowners from being taxed out of their homes he needs to commit to addressing not only property taxes but all taxes on property and taxes in general: Cost shifting is not reform. Allowing the un-capped, exemption-less non-ad valorem component of Florida’s property tax bills to proliferate is not a tax savings at all.
We will say again, the last thing property owners in Florida need is our constitutional Save-Our-Homes protections and exemptions removed, leaving long-time homeowners, disabled veterans, older property owners and more vulnerable to being “assessed” out of their homes.
Do it right. Or don’t waste more of the taxpayer’s dime on a shell game not likely to fool 60% of Florida’s voters.
While this measure to save property owners from losing their homes to taxes, the move to eliminate property taxes could bring unintended consequents by leaving counties with no other option but to raises sales taxes and other fees to pay for the upkeep of our roads and bridges. That would mean a tax shift, not a tax savings at all.
Lee County has already forecasted a $120 million loss in revenue on 2027 and a $240 million annual loss in revenue in 2028. Who will make up for that loss? Many Lee County employees, neighbors of ours, will lose their jobs. Pothole-filled roads, already a common problem throughout the county, will be come worse. Bridge projects will be delayed, potentially putting safety at risk. The budgets for public safety, emergency management, parks and recreation, and other departments who do jobs we take for granted, would be slashed.
Most likely, the county would have to dramatically raise fees, fees that will be felt on bridges, at the DMV office. A county desperate for revenue, may turn to all kinds of ways to collect money from residents – ones we can easily dream of. This bill does not block counties from raising their sales taxes or adding new fees to collect the lost revenue.
Our local fire departments, who we rely on most in the worst of times, such as in hurricanes, could face dire cuts.
Many of us were taught when we were young that nothing is free and there is no such thing as a free meal. While our local governments may be spending too much money, the way to fix that is for residents to get involved in their local governments and fix spending themselves. This new exemption may seem like the easy way out, but the consequences may turn out to be much tougher than it seems with far-reaching consequences many have not yet begun to process.