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Florida’s Tax Gamble

Florida’s proposed property tax cuts can have many hidden costs. The Herald Editorial Board explores how.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers aren’t necessarily wrong to focus on putting property tax cuts on the ballot this year. Florida’s property tax system can be unfair.

Say you bought your home recently, at the peak of the market. You’re probably paying way more in taxes than your neighbor living in a similar home for decades. This is a tax shift: some people carry a larger burden of paying for taxes to keep local governments running.

In 1992, voters approved a cap, called Save our Homes, on how much a homesteaded property’s taxable value can grow annually (no more than 3% or inflation, whichever is lower). The goal was to slow the growth of tax bills so long-time residents, especially the elderly, wouldn’t be forced from their homes.

But the cap also means recent buyers pay taxes on higher values that have not been kept artificially low for years or decades. The same applies to commercial and residential property owners who do not have a homestead designation, which is given only for someone’s primary residence.

When we’re talking about cutting taxes, not every Florida homeowner needs the same amount of help. Seniors on fixed incomes, first-time and new homebuyers, and lower-income residents should be given priority.

Many of the proposals going through the Legislature don’t take that into account. They instead propose blanket cuts that would put cities and counties in a jam.

Local governments have taken advantage of rising real estate values — the revenue generated from property taxes in Florida has more than doubled in the last decade, according to Florida Tax Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog. But kneecapping local communities isn’t the answer. Property taxes pay for a large portion of local services such as public safety, parks and libraries.

If voters in the fall approve some of the most far-reaching measures going through the Legislature — one of them would eliminate non-school taxes on all homesteaded properties and another would phase that out over 10 years — the results would be uneven.

Experts across the political spectrum agree that the state must address some of the disparities our tax system has created. This should happen with tailored solutions rather than the sledgehammer approach. Here are some of the issues:

First-time homebuyers

Save our Homes does little for first-time buyers already struggling to enter the housing market, thanks to high prices and mortgages. The average age of an American purchasing their first home has been steadily increasing and now is 40, according to Florida Tax Watch.

There are ways to help this group of people that lawmakers should explore. One idea proposed by Tax Watch: a tax exemption of 25% of a new home’s initial assessed value (assessed value is the amount on which property taxes are calculated and usually is lower than the market value).

Seniors

Homeowners over 65 on fixed incomes may have a hard time keeping up with rising taxes. Florida already allows local governments to provide a “long-term resident” exemption for seniors who have lived in their home, valued at less than $250,000, for at least 25 years. But their household cannot have earned more than $38,686 last year. Lawmakers could increase the income and property value limits to help more people.

House Joint Resolution 205, by Miami Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, would eliminate non-school property taxes for all Florida seniors who are homesteaded. But that would create a $5.1 billion shortfall for local governments statewide, according to a Florida House analysis. There’s got to be a better way to give a break to our older residents without causing such an impact on local service funding.

Homestead exemptions

There’s a lot of talk about increasing Florida’s homestead exemptions. House Joint Resolution 209, filed by Coral Gables Rep. Demi Busatta would create a new exemption of $200,000 for properties covered by insurance, which wouldn’t apply to taxes that fund schools.

There are two problems with this approach. Many Miami-Dade seniors whose homes are paid off don’t carry insurance, Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado told the Editorial Board. Second, such a large exemption would essentially wipe out the taxes smaller and rural counties and cities can collect. These communities, where property values are lower, tend to be already considered “fiscally constrained.”

There are more tailored solutions, such as a new homestead exemption based on a county’s median home value.

The problem is that “tailored” and “measured” aren’t as good political selling points as “eliminating” and “slashing” property taxes. But they suggest that there are ways to provide relief to homeowners without wreaking havoc on local governments.

This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 11:29 AM.