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<\/p>\nSummary<\/p>\n
Thirty-four states passed property tax reforms from 2020 to 2025.
\n Florida voters will decide in November on a ballot measure to cut property taxes.
\n Some local governments say the measure could force them to cut police departments and other services or raise taxes on renters and businesses.<\/p>\n
\n AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.<\/p>\n
New York\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Oviedo, a bedroom community outside Orlando, has been trying to build a new police station for a decade.\n <\/p>\n
\n The dilapidated windows in the 36-year-old station are leaking water and it\u2019s too cramped for Oviedo\u2019s growing police force. Oviedo (pronounced oh-VEE-doh) has finalized plans for a modern $18 million station with officer training facilities and space for its K-9 dogs.\n <\/p>\n
\n But the city may not need a new police station. Oviedo soon may not even have a police department at all.\n <\/p>\n
\n In November, Florida voters will decide on a ballot amendment that would remove roughly 60% of Florida residents from the property tax rolls. Property taxes generate half of Oviedo\u2019s revenue, funding its police, fire and parks department.\n <\/p>\n
\n If the ballot proposal passes, the city would fold the police department after savings run dry in a year and hand policing responsibilities over to Seminole County, Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhat kind of fools would we be to invest in a police station when we don\u2019t know whether we can afford to operate a police department?\u201d she said in a phone interview with CNN.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Florida is the epicenter of the largest property tax backlash in America since the 1970s. Taxes on land and buildings are the largest revenue source for most local governments. But real-estate values have surged almost 27% faster than inflation since 2020<\/a>, fueling homeowners\u2019 anger over higher tax bills on their properties.\n <\/p>\n \n Thirty-four states passed<\/a> property tax reforms from 2020 to 2025, according to the National Association of Counties.\n <\/p>\n \n Ohio, Indiana and Wyoming passed property tax cuts<\/a> last year. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed eliminating<\/a> the school property tax for homeowners and using the state\u2019s budget surplus to backfill funding. Groups in North Dakota and Ohio have gathered signatures for state ballot amendments to abolish property taxes altogether.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re experiencing a new property tax revolt,\u201d said Jared Walczak, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Tax Foundation. The populist right has led the charge, breaking with traditional fiscal conservatives who long favored property taxes because they were closely connected to local decision-making.\n <\/p>\n \n The property tax rebellion is part of a broader push on both the right and left to give tax exemptions to seniors, workers who rely on tips, and the bottom 50%<\/a> of the country to address cost-of-living pressures.\n <\/p>\n \n Florida\u2019s ballot amendment would ripple through local governments. Florida has no personal income tax, so municipalities rely primarily on property and sales taxes to fund services. While sales taxes fluctuate, property taxes stabilize local coffers.\n <\/p>\n \n Some cash-strapped jurisdictions say the measure would handcuff their ability to pay for services, and they\u2019d respond by making cuts or consolidating. Other local governments may try to close the revenue gap by hiking taxes on renters, businesses or second homeowners.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt would just be this crazy domino effect of messed up, unintended consequences,\u201d Sladek said.\n <\/p>\n \n Florida\u2019s legislature recently approved the ballot initiative to increase the tax exemption on homesteads (primary residences) from $50,000 to $250,000 by 2028. The exemption would rise at the same rate as inflation every year after.\n <\/p>\n \n The proposal would also reduce the current 10% cap on annual assessment increases of non-homestead properties, rental buildings and commercial properties to 5%.\n <\/p>\n \n Sixty percent of Florida voters must approve the amendment.\n <\/p>\n \n Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the state legislature to approve a ballot amendment that would eventually abolish all property taxes, but lawmakers passed a narrower measure increasing the homestead exemption instead. It shields property tax funding for public schools.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cPeople should not be permanent renters to the government,\u201d said Hector Roos, chair of the Libertarian Party of Miami-Dade County. He hopes passage of the ballot measure is a step toward ending property taxes in the state.\n <\/p>\n![\"Florida's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ap22312552647273.jpg\")
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