Raising the homestead exemption will help to address tax inequity and perverse incentives in Florida’s property tax system.
In 1992, voters approved the “Save our Homes” amendment that caps the annual assessment amount for property taxes at 3% or less. The first $50,000 of property value was also made exempt.
This has led to unequal tax burdens. Long-time residents enjoy low taxes relative to new arrivals. This is not problematic if the goal is to place more taxes on non-homestead properties like vacation homes, but it leads to inequities and creates perverse incentives.
When voters approved the amendment in 1992, $50,000 in exemption might have been a large amount; but today, due to rising home costs, the exemption is small in comparison to overall home costs. Adjustments for consumer inflation haven’t kept pace with housing costs.
Here’s a real example. I moved from Mesa, AZ to Tallahassee in July 2025. When my family and I moved, our property taxes went from $1,600 a year to $9,600 a year. The increase is not due to us getting a significantly more expensive house. Rather, despite paying roughly 20% more for our residence when we moved, our property taxes increased by roughly 500%.
SummerBrooke entrance in northeast Tallahassee.
Many residents in our neighborhood pay considerably less despite having homes of significantly greater value. This is because they are long-time residents and have locked in their assessments for years under the 1992 amendment.
This situation has the potential to dissuade people from moving to Florida. When a state relies on new residents to fund services, the burden is likely to be unnecessarily high for new residents. When I informed my parents, who live in South Carolina and who were considering moving to Florida, how much we pay in property taxes in Tallahassee, they decided not to move to Florida. The tax burden completely outdoes savings in income taxes, and it is not possible to find a property that is sufficiently cheap to avoid high property taxes and make the move worthwhile, from a tax perspective.
More: A property tax crisis, made in Tallahassee | Opinion
Regarding perverse incentives, Leon County Schools now proposes a 1-mill property tax increase. Long-time homeowners face little increased costs since their assessments have been locked in years ago. New residents bear the burden most heavily since their assessments are closer to market values.
This is a problem because of high home prices. The average cost of even “starter” homes has increased over time nearly everywhere. According to the Leon County Property Appraiser’s tax estimator, if a new resident purchased a home for $250,000 in the Bradfordville area and filed for the homestead tax exemption, their tax burden would be roughly $3,300 per year. The school district’s proposal would increase the burden by roughly $250 per year.
Rep. Jason Shoaf, left, and Rep. Demi Busatta chat with one another during a special session called to discuss property taxes Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
Of course, many new homeowners pay considerably more than $250,000 since housing is scarce; so, their taxes would increase even more.
Increasing the homestead exemption will help address large tax inequities and help reduce perverse incentives for voters deciding on local tax changes.
James Strickland
James Strickland recently moved from Arizona to Tallahassee, where he lives in SummerBrooke. He teaches government at Florida State University. Views expressed are his own.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Send letters to the editor (up to 200 words) or Your Turn columns (500-550 words) to letters@tallahassee.com. Please include your address for verification purposes only, and if you send a Your Turn, also include a photo and 1-2 line bio of yourself. You can also submit anonymous Zing!s at Tallahassee.com/Zing.Submissions are published on a space-available basis. All submissions may be edited for content, clarity and length, and may also be published by any part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida voters: Vote yes on homestead exemption increase | Opinion