Property taxes will be a big issue on the election ballot in 2026. Our Central Florida Media Collaborative partners at WUCF made it the focal point of its “Newsnight” program Friday, with News 6’s Stephanie Rodriguez appearing to discuss the issue.
[WATCH: Newsnight from WUCF]
Florida House lawmakers unveiled a slate of seven potential constitutional amendments, including changes to homestead exemptions, or eliminating some residential property taxes.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis is dismissing the proposals.
DeSantis, who is pushing for major property tax changes, criticized the House on X.com for potentially placing more than one measure on the ballot, calling it a “political game” and not a serious attempt to tackle the issue.
Placing more than one property tax measure on the ballot represents an attempt to kill anything on property taxes.
It’s a political game, not a serious attempt to get it done for the people. https://t.co/qwHDtq3MUs
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) October 23, 2025
On Thursday, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez responded to DeSantis’ criticism, defending the plan.
“The governor has not produced a plan on property taxes. Period,” Perez said. “It’s unclear what he wants to do. I’ve personally reached out to share with him the House’s proposals and he has, so far, not wanted to engage in a conversation. So when the governor says he wants to ‘abolish’ property taxes. How? We don’t have any details.”
The seven constitutional amendments proposed would do the following:
HJR 201 eliminates non-school homestead taxes. Those are property taxes on primary residences.HJR 203 would phase out non-school homestead property taxes over 10 years.HJR 205 would exempt people ages 65 and older from paying non-school taxes on their homes.HJR 207 would create a new non-school homestead exemption equal to 25 percent of the assessed value of homes after other exemptions are applied.HJR 209 would create an additional $100,000 homestead exemption for people with property insurance.HJR 211 would allow people to transfer the full value of accumulated “Save Our Homes” benefits to new homes. That would add to what is known as “portability” of Save Our Homes benefits. The Save Our Homes law limits annual increases in the assessed value of homesteaded properties to 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.HJR 213 would change the Save Our Homes caps. It would limit increases in taxable values for homestead property to 3 percent over three years.
Perez says voters should be part of the conversation about what taxes they pay, and should be able to choose some, all or none of the proposals.
Property taxes, which pay for everything from road repairs to sheriff’s deputies, have skyrocketed along with property values and the population in recent years.
[WATCH: Florida’s property tax overhaul: Impact on schools, safety and your county]
Local government leaders agree property tax reform is needed. However, as News 6’s Matt Austin reported earlier this week, they also feel taking a chainsaw to property taxes would do more harm than good.
News 6’s Stephanie Rodriguez went on WUCF’s “Newsnight” program on Friday. She says broad cuts to property taxes will hurt some counties and cities more than others.
“Every county is going to have to look at the money they get in from property tax, because no 2 counties are alike, so some counties might have more homestead properties and some might have more commercial properties, that wouldn’t benefit from tax reform. That’s money that these counties could still rely on that other counties potentially could not rely on is they have less commercial properties that wouldn’t benefit from the tax reform,” Rodriguez said.
Meanwhile, the Florida Senate is still discussing its own plans.
During the Orange County Legislative session this week, State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, and State Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary, said they wanted to make sure they fully researched the issue.
“We all know that these proposals impacting property taxes will have major repercussions for emergency services, for fire, for so many of the critical government services that are provided here,” Smith said. “We have to take our time to make sure that we fully researched this issue, get all the feedback from stakeholders.”
“I think folks with an expectation that if we cut property taxes, it’s going to get rid of their bill, and we don’t address required local effort. Some folks are going to be very disappointed because we don’t. And a lot of these proposals, that’s a big deal. Nothing that has been proposed so far prohibits a cost shift from municipalities going to fees instead of from taxes. We don’t. A lot of these create a permanent funding obligation for law enforcement,” Brodeur said.
Any proposal put on the 2026 ballot would have to be approved by 60% of Florida voters to pass.
Information from News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
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