DeSantis has claims about his tax plan. What will actually be on the ballot?

Gov. Ron DeSantis has made some bold claims about his property tax plan since unveiling it last week.

He’s said 92% of primary homeowners could pay no property taxes. He’s touted a state fund that will help rural counties weather the shortfall.

Some of those claims are outdated thanks to the Legislature, which significantly changed the amendment this week. Other claims he’s made aren’t reflected in the amendment.

What the amendment would do is raise the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027, and to $250,000 in 2028.

Here’s what the governor has said about the amendment, and what the amendment that will be on the November ballot actually does:

Claim: Florida is eliminating property taxes

The ballot summary of the amendment — the portion that most voters will read — states that the amendment “requires ... a schedule for full elimination” of property taxes on primary homes. (Those are homes with homestead exemptions, which reduce the taxable value on a home.)

DeSantis also repeated this claim in a one-page summary released last week.

But the actual amendment does not include any such requirement. Lines 281-285 state that the Legislature “shall” create a procedure for counties and municipalities to increase the homestead exemption “up to” any conceivable limit.

It’s confusing. Even the two legislators who sponsored it can’t agree on what it means.

Sen. Bryan Avila, a Miami Republican, said the amendment requires the Legislature to create a procedure for local governments to raise the homestead exemption if local officials want to.

“A local jurisdiction, if they wanted to go beyond the $250,000, they would be able to,” Avila said.

If the Legislature wanted to increase the exemption beyond that, they could propose another resolution for voters to decide, he said.

But Rep. Toby Overdorf, a Palm City Republican, said the amendment allows the Legislature to raise the homestead exemption to any limit without bringing it to voters. (He thinks it’s unlikely to happen, though.)

“Theoretically, we could come in and put a million-dollar exemption,” Overdorf said. “Theoretically, we could also take it away.”

He added that he expects this provision to be debated — and litigated — before November.

Claim: 60% of primary homes will be ‘tax-free’

When DeSantis unveiled his property tax plan last week, he said that raising the homestead exemption to $250,000 would make 60% of primary homes property tax-free.

At the time, it was true that homes valued up to that amount would not pay property taxes under his plan. But lawmakers this week balked at exempting property taxes that go to schools.

They changed his amendment on Monday to clarify that homes at any value will still have to pay property taxes that go to schools.

Claim: Florida will raise the homestead exemption to $500,000

DeSantis has also repeatedly indicated that the exemption will increase to $500,000.

“If it’s successful, when you raise to $500,000 limit, that’s 92% of all Florida residents that would be tax-free,” he said.

The $500,000 limit is not mentioned in the ballot summary or in the amendment. And legislators are highly unlikely to try to raise the exemption before seeing how the $250,000 limit affects local governments in 2028.

Claim: The state will have a fund to help cover shortfalls

One of DeSantis’ selling points behind his property tax plan is that it would create a state trust fund to help local governments manage a sudden drop in revenue.

But lawmakers this week considered the mention of a trust fund misleading to voters, because there was no guarantee that future legislatures and governors will put any money in it.

Sam Garrison, a Fleming Island Republican set to become House speaker later this year, said he is opposed to backfilling counties for lost property tax revenue. (DeSantis leaves office in January and won’t be around to oversee a fund.)

Lawmakers this week stripped any mention of the fund from the amendment.

Claim: The amendment protects ‘small businesses’

The amendment doesn’t just raise the homestead exemption. It also lowers the cap on annual assessment increases for non-homestead property, such as stores or rental homes, from the current 10% to 5%.

The amendment summary — and DeSantis — states the intent is “protecting small businesses.”

That’s true. Lowering the cap would apply to small businesses. But the amendment itself does not limit the benefit to small businesses. It would apply to any property without a homestead exemption, such as major corporations, data centers and billionaires’ second or third homes.

Claim: Property appraisers will promote the amendment

DeSantis also wanted to spend $5.5 million to have property appraisers send mailers to property owners about the amendment. The mailers would have pointed homeowners to a state-run website showing them how much they could save if voters approve the amendment in November.

However, the Legislature last year prohibited public money from being used for political advertising or “any other communication sent to electors” about a proposed amendment. That was part of the fallout of the Hope Florida scandal, in which the DeSantis administration secretly diverted millions in state dollars to fighting 2024 ballot initiatives.

Lawmakers this week removed the mailers and the money from DeSantis’ bill, citing the need to comply with the new state law.