{"id":300122,"date":"2026-06-08T16:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/300122\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T16:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:54:08","slug":"skepticism-mounts-over-floridas-homestead-property-tax-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/300122\/","title":{"rendered":"Skepticism mounts over Florida’s homestead property tax amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that proposed revisions to Florida\u2019s homestead exemption<\/a> are going before voters, local officials and institutions are warning those changes could hamper financing for local projects.<\/p>\n

Several municipal leaders, including some county tax collectors and property appraisers, are concerned that if the referendum is approved the reduction in revenues could complicate the repayment of municipal bonds.<\/p>\n

The concerns about the future of the stability of municipal bonds in Florida are getting so intense,\u00a0daily trade newspaper The Bond Buyer<\/a> has increased coverage the Sunshine State situation.<\/p>\n

A June 5 Bond Buyer report tapped Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano<\/a> who said the homestead proposal could cause problems for outstanding bonds in that county.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am quite concerned about those bonds,\u201d Fasano said in the report.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In Lee County, Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell<\/a> suggested the loss of tax revenue due to the homestead revisions could cause pain if implemented too quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would make a lot more sense to phase it in over, say, the next decade,\u201d Caldwell said in a Gulf Coast News report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Florida Legislature voted last week to take the measure to the voters in a referendum on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot. If approved by at least 60% of voters, the constitutional amendment would raise homestead exemptions for those who own primary residences in the state by the end of this year to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and tie further increases in the exemption to the Consumer Price Index<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While many lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis\u00a0are behind it, organizations such as Florida TaxWatch<\/a> and the Florida Policy Institute<\/a> have expressed hesitation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, UBS<\/a> wealth management issued an analysis of the homestead plan and Yahoo Finance reported<\/a> the institution\u2019s review challenged some of DeSantis\u2019 claims. A central promise was it would eliminate property taxes for 60% of residents who own homes and UBS used the \u00a0Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research<\/a> as a benchmark for its review.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut the state\u2019s own data tells a more modest story: only about 28% of homesteaded properties in Florida are valued at $250,000 or less. At the $500,000 threshold \u2014 again, where DeSantis promised 92% coverage \u2014 Florida\u2019s own data pegs the share at just 75% to 80%,\u201d the Yahoo report stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that proposed revisions to Florida\u2019s homestead exemption are going before voters, local officials and institutions are warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,126107,13487,80195,4329,14559,46420,101014,113175,126108,18895,10545,412,126109,126110,126111],"class_list":["post-300122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-office-of-economic-and-demographic-research","tag-florida-policy-institute","tag-florida-taxwatch","tag-gulf-coast-news","tag-homestead-exemption","tag-matt-caldwell","tag-mike-fasano","tag-municipal-bonds","tag-pasco-county-tax-collector","tag-property-appraiser","tag-referendum","tag-ron-desantis","tag-the-bond-buyer","tag-ubs-bank","tag-yahoo-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300122","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=300122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}