{"id":291644,"date":"2026-06-01T11:56:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/291644\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T11:56:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:56:28","slug":"florida-lawmakers-start-special-session-on-property-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/291644\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida lawmakers start special session on property taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLORIDA \u2014\u00a0Florida lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee this week for their third special session this year, this time focusing on property taxes.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement last week. His proposal, called \u201cSave Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes,\u201d would provide Florida homeowners relief by increasing the homestead exemption.<\/p>\n

The plan includes five major points:<\/p>\n

It would exempt the first $250,000 of a homestead\u2019s value from taxation
\nRequire local government to use remaining property taxes for core public services \u2014 like education, public safety, and infrastructure
\nLimit future property tax assessments on businesses
\nRequire Florida residency for five years prior to receiving the exemption if moving after Jan. 1, 2027
\nCreate a state trust fund to support local governments financially to ensure those core services aren\u2019t negatively affected<\/p>\n

DeSantis shared a website<\/a>\u00a0on social media that includes a tax-savings calculator. Homeowners can enter their address and see potential savings based on 2025 tax bills.<\/p>\n

University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett said critics worry that what Floridians would save on property taxes could lead to additional costs elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the critic\u2019s perspective, there is no such thing as a free lunch. If you cut back on these property taxes for counties and cities and school districts, either you\u2019re going to have big cuts in services that people expect or you\u2019re going to have to raise taxes somewhere else,\u201d said Jewett.<\/p>\n

Jewett notes that critics are worried this could affect local government\u2019s ability to provide certain services, and while homeowners might be saving on taxes, others might pay the price \u2014 such as people who live in apartments, own second homes, or agriculture properties.<\/p>\n

He says that while lower taxes could attract more people to move here, the waiting period was put in place for a reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be an immediate benefit if they pass what the governor has suggested because the governor said \u2014 he specifically brought that up \u2014 that he didn\u2019t want a bunch of people to move here immediately to get that tax break and that this would be more for long-term Florida residents,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether lawmakers pass property tax reform \u2014 either the language proposed by the governor\u2019s office or if they make potential changes.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers will meet on Monday to kick-start the special session. Senate President Ben Albritton said last week that a floor vote could happen Tuesday or Wednesday.<\/p>\n

If the legislature passes a measure this week, it has to be signed by DeSantis. Then, it would be placed in the ballot this November and would require support from 60% of voters to pass.<\/p>\n

If that happens, the tax reform would take effect beginning in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLORIDA \u2014\u00a0Florida lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee this week for their third special session this year, this time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3140,1015,28,30,29,2287,115,139,99,135],"class_list":["post-291644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-emma-delamo","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-politics","tag-tampa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}