ruled<\/a> that the original title and summary were biased, misleading and inaccurate.<\/p>\nProperty tax amendment: Florida releases court-ordered rewrite<\/p>\n
First reported by the Tampa Bay Times, the new title, “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments,” replaces “Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes,” which Frank called more of a political slogan than a neutral description.<\/p>\n
The rewrite also removes claims that the amendment “benefits” taxpayers, “protects small businesses,” “ensures” core services and guarantees “fairness” for Florida residents.<\/p>\n
Instead, it spells out the mechanics.<\/p>\n
The measure would raise the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments after that. The old language only mentioned the $250,000 exemption, even though it would not take effect until the second year.<\/p>\n
The rewrite also makes clear there is no required schedule to eliminate non-school homestead property taxes. Lawmakers would instead create a process allowing local governments to raise the exemption further, potentially up to a home’s full assessed value.<\/p>\n
It also says the annual assessment-growth cap would drop from 10% to 5% for all non-homestead property, including rentals, vacation homes and commercial buildings, not just small businesses.<\/p>\n
New Florida residents would receive the existing exemption after qualifying for homestead, but would not receive the larger exemption until their fifth year of claiming it.<\/p>\n
Former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes, a plaintiff in one of the consolidated challenges, welcomed the rewrite.<\/p>\n
“Finally, the practicing attorneys took control of the language,” Brandes said in a text. “The text is honest about what the amendment does. I hope Florida voters will dig deeper, ask hard questions, and understand the consequences before they decide the outcome.”<\/p>\n
Opponents say the clearer language does not fix what they consider a flawed proposal.<\/p>\n
“The revised ballot language in response to the court’s ruling more accurately represents the underlying policy for voters,” Florida Policy Institute CEO Sadaf Knight said. “However, the amendment\u2019s harmful potential impacts remain the same.”<\/p>\n
State analysts estimate the measure would eventually reduce recurring local property-tax revenue by nearly $12 billion annually. Opponents warn that could mean service cuts or higher taxes and fees elsewhere.<\/p>\n
“The language on voters’ ballots may have changed, but Amendment 3 is still a scam and a tax shift,” said Jackson Peel, communications director for Save Our Services\u2013No on 3.<\/p>\n
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who pushed the proposal, argues homeowners need relief from rapidly rising local property-tax collections and local governments can rein in spending.<\/p>\n
Amendment 3 needs at least 60% support to pass in November. If approved, it would take effect Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Amendment 3 has new wording, but the same policy. Attorney General James Uthmeier released a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[133243,28,150151,30,29,872,123100,875,876],"class_list":["post-371413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-amendment-3","tag-florida","tag-florida-amendment-3-language","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-real-estate-news","tag-save-our-homes-from-excessive-property-taxes","tag-south-florida-real-estate","tag-wptv-real-estate-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371413","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=371413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}