Will Florida lawmakers prioritize the future of property taxes in the next legislative session? The short answer is yes. Because the current debate does not satisfy most Floridians who pay property taxes on their homes and businesses.
In June, Florida House leadership announced that a series of events would be held across the state over the summer to gather input from voters and organizations on the pros and cons of completely eliminating or reducing local property taxes.
But that didn’t happen. In fact, the first public hearing of the Special Committee on Property Taxes was not held until late September of this year.
One caller to Jacksonville’s conservative talk radio station WBOB said, “The state didn’t have a town hall all summer. Property tax reform is probably the most important issue this state will be dealing with for a while, but as taxpayers, I think we’ve been robbed. We don’t know if our elected officials are listening to homeowners and our ideas on how to address this issue.”
Despite the anger of some property owners, several proposals have been submitted to the Florida Legislature for consideration.
Completely eliminate property taxes on non-school farms.
These same taxes would be phased out over 10 years, with an additional $100,000 in exemptions each year.
Exempts Florida residents age 65 and older from paying property taxes on non-school property.
Some are adding new exemptions for property owners.
One bill would create a new 25% homestead exemption on non-school taxes to help current and first-time homebuyers.
Giving homeowners an additional $100,000 in liability insurance coverage is intended to reduce the overall cost of housing.
Removes the “portability” cap, allowing homeowners to transfer their entire Save Our Homes benefit to a new property, even if it is worth less.
The upper limit on taxable price growth will be adjusted, limiting the increase to 3% over three years (currently 3% per year) for homesteaders and 15% over three years (currently 10% per year) for non-homesteaders.
A two-thirds vote is required to increase local millage rates.
Florida House lawmakers note that the current property tax reform bill does not address the school portion of local property taxes, which would protect first responder funding.
