ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Florida voters will decide this fall whether to increase the state\u2019s homestead property tax exemption \u2014 a change supporters say would give homeowners more relief from rising property taxes.<\/p>\n
But renters would not receive the exemption directly, raising questions about how the proposed tax changes could affect the local services they rely on.<\/p>\n
St. Petersburg renter Bobo Critchlow, a community organizer and co-campaign director for \u201cVote No on Amendment 3,\u201d said the measure could hurt working-class residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very adamant about this campaign because this campaign is going to take services directly from the working-class people that rely on them so much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The proposed amendment would increase the homestead exemption for qualifying homeowners to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.<\/p>\n
It also would reduce the annual assessment-growth cap for non-homestead property, including rental properties, from 10% to 5%.<\/p>\n
Critchlow said that could mean less property tax revenue for local governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe local governments are going to make one of two decisions. They\u2019re either going to supplement the revenue by increasing fees and other taxes, or they are going to just cut services altogether,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Charles Phillips, an organizer with the St. Pete Tenants Union, said renters are often left out of conversations about property taxes and public services.<\/p>\n
\u201cTenants are very often left out in conversations about public services because they\u2019re not seen as deserving as homeowners sometimes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Phillips also worked in disaster recovery after hurricanes Helene and Milton. He said local funding can play a role in helping communities respond to disasters, including assisting renters whose homes are damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFEMA offers a variety of different assistance to renters when they\u2019re impacted by a storm: rental assistance, helping people find apartments as well when their homes or rental properties are destroyed. And essentially, there will be a gap in funding that\u2019s caused by a decrease in local funds that would be used for disaster mitigation, disaster relief and disaster response,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Phillips said renters should not expect the proposed tax changes to automatically translate into lower monthly rent.<\/p>\n
\u201cRents will not decrease just because property taxes go down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Supporters say the amendment would provide additional tax relief for homeowners and could benefit Florida\u2019s housing market.<\/p>\n
Opponents argue local governments could lose revenue and may have to make up the difference through other taxes or fees, or by reducing services.<\/p>\n
For renters, the impact would be indirect. They would not receive the homestead exemption, but they could be affected by changes to local government revenue and the services funded by property taxes.<\/p>\n
Amendment 3 must receive at least 60% of the vote to pass. If approved, the changes would begin in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Florida voters will decide this fall whether to increase the state\u2019s homestead property tax…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[16022,4318,3140,274,2375,1644,2287,115,99,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-379868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-housing","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-top-stories","tag-fadia-patterson","tag-housing","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379868","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=379868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}