Florida Republicans have promised for nearly a year to provide meaningful property tax relief to Floridians in the form of a constitutional amendment they could vote on this November.
Despite that hype, no such proposal has received the three-fifths support in both chambers in the Legislature that is required to get a legislatively backed constitutional amendment on the ballot. Gov. Ron DeSantis promises that will come during a special legislative session yet to be scheduled, but some of the most aggressive GOP advocates for cutting property taxes are indicating they don鈥檛 expect whatever is announced to be wide-ranging enough.
The one proposal that House Republicans approved this year (but is officially dead after the Senate declined to vote on it) called for eliminating all non-school property taxes for homesteaded properties beginning in January.
But that wasn鈥檛 nearly enough tax relief for homeowners, says Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, R-Belleview, who is leading an effort to place a citizen-led constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2028 that would eliminate all property taxes.
鈥淟ast year, we collected $18 billion in homestead property taxes,鈥� Chamberlin told the Phoenix in a phone interview.
鈥淚鈥檓 trying to eliminate all property taxes, but if we just went after homestead, the last four years we鈥檝e increased the property tax revenues by as much or more than what all the homestead properties are even collecting right now. So, if we just wiped-out homestead properties, we would just be taking our revenue stream back a few years.鈥�
Property taxes in Florida are levied by counties, municipalities, school districts, and some special districts based on the value of real and tangible personal property. Those revenues pay for law enforcement, social services, parks, environmental programs, and more.
During the recently concluded regular legislative session, House Republicans proposed seven constitutional amendments addressing property taxes. Halfway through the session, they opted to put all of their chips behind a measure that would have gradually increased the homestead exemption for non-school-related property taxes by $100,000 each year for 10 years.
The bill sponsor, Rep. Monique Miller, R-Palm Bay, said her proposal was structured that way to avoid an immediate financial shock to local governments and give them time to adjust to working with those reduced revenues.
However, Miller filed an amendment to her own bill () when it reached the floor that jettisoned the planned 10-year phase in, instead completely ending non-school property taxes for homesteaded properties starting next January.
It came the day after Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ed Hooper the Senate鈥檚 version 鈥渨on鈥檛 be as generous.鈥� The House measure would have cost $14.7 billion in local non-school property tax revenues in fiscal year 2027-2028.
Senate Republicans ultimately declined to support any property tax reduction bill during the session, seemingly taking their cues from DeSantis, who preferred that they deal with the issue after the regular session.
鈥淚 highly respect and work with and support Rep Monique Miller鈥檚 work on this,鈥� Chamberlin said.
鈥淏ut if you remember, all of the tax relief bills on the House side excluded any reduction in funding for police, fire, and schools. Which is about 80% of property tax revenue. So, in essence, there鈥檚 no way that you can eliminate property taxes if you can鈥檛 touch 82% of what needs to be eliminated.鈥�
Chamberlin now says he鈥檚 鈥減essimistic鈥� about the state putting any serious tax property reform proposal before the voters this year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 still a chance that it could end up on the ballot, but I believe the only way to ensure this is to make sure that we take this to the people, and that鈥檚 where this ballot initiative idea was birthed,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take a lot of work to get that done, but it鈥檚 also going to keep the conversation alive. In the next eight months, we鈥檙e going to have a new governor in the state of Florida. We鈥檙e going to have a new Senate president. A new speaker of the House. And I am optimistic that if we keep this conversation alive, we can be the first state in the United States to actually allow people to own their property rather than rent it from the government.鈥�
Attack on local spending
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia has been traveling around the state since being appointed to his position last summer making the case and that they can withstand reductions in revenues if and when the amount of property taxes they collect is reduced. That鈥檚 been met with fierce pushback from locally elected officials, who Ingoglia鈥檚 claims of 鈥渨asteful spending.鈥�
Lawmakers in several other states have proposed reducing or ending property taxes, but none have succeeded (see list of states below).
Chamberlin is fully cognizant that advocates for the complete elimination of property taxes must show that the revenues lost can be replaced to secure the approval of the necessary 60% of Florida voters.
鈥淚 do not believe that the government should have a lien on anybody鈥檚 property,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 think that there are other ways in a $1.8 trillion dollar economy like Florida has to generate the revenue needed 鈥� there鈥檚 smarter ways. There鈥檚 even ways for us to benefit from the travelers and the things that come to Florida that we haven鈥檛 taken seriously. We haven鈥檛 seriously explored alternative revenue streams. Instead, we鈥檙e just taxing people indefinitely for property.鈥�
Citizen-led constitutional amendments have never had a higher bar to get on the ballot. Efforts to legalize recreational cannabis and enshrine abortion rights on the ballot in 2024 came up short of the 60% required for passage, even though both campaigns spent well north of $100 million. Legislation has made it even more difficult for such groups to qualify for the ballot, citizen-led constitutional amendments getting on the ballot this year.
Nevertheless, Chamberlin says he鈥檚 鈥渄ead serious鈥� about getting such a proposal on the ballot in 2028.
鈥淚鈥檝e got teams of people in addition to the attorneys to make sure that we do all of this the right way. We know that there鈥檚 going to have be money raised but we also know the amount of support across the 23 to 24 million people here in the state of Florida鈥� he said.
鈥淭his conversation has been elevated. And I鈥檒l give thanks to our governor and the speaker, but definitely the governor, who has used his platform to elevate this conversation. People are wanting and needing relief. We believe that if any topic has a chance on getting on the ballot, it would be a topic like this. And I can help lead and guide this so it will be a statewide promotional effort.鈥�
Chamberlin hopes a meaningful property tax reform proposal will be introduced in the Legislature this year, 鈥渂ut I don鈥檛 sit around and wait for things to get perfect, because it鈥檒l never get perfect.鈥�
What other states are doing
Florida is one of a number of states seriously exploring the repealing or reduction property taxes.
In Georgia, House Republicans proposed eventual elimination of property taxes for homeowners. That measure to clear that chamber last month. A more modest measure that did get approved includes options for cities and counties to repurpose optional sales taxes for property tax cuts, but it does not cap overall property tax collections or enact new statewide homestead exemptions, according to
In Ohio, lawmakers have replacing property taxes with a land-value tax. The bill is still in committee and would ultimately go before voters if passed in the Legislature. There is a separate to get a ballot measure on the Ohio ballot to remove property taxes.
In Nebraska, organizers were trying to get a measure on the 2026 ballot that would eliminate property, income, and inheritance taxes and replace them with a broad consumption tax . Those organizers now are aiming for the 2028 ballot.
In South Dakota, lawmakers what Gov. Larry Rhoden called 鈥渢he largest property tax cut in South Dakota history鈥� last month. The state raised its sales tax rate to make up for the property tax cut.
In Oklahoma, there is a campaign to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall that would .
In Indiana, that would have abolished the assessment of tangible property after 2026 and end the imposition of property taxes by the end of 2027 was but did not pass during the legislative session that ended in late February.
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