Florida Amendment 3: Will It Eliminate Property Taxes?

What Amendment 3 Does to Your Property Tax Bill

A Florida homestead tax bill has two parts. The school part pays the school board. The non-school part pays the county, the city if you live in one, and special districts such as fire, water management and hospital districts. Amendment 3 changes only the non-school part.

Today the homestead exemption removes $25,000 of assessed value from every tax, school included, and a second amount from the non-school taxes on value between $50,000 and $76,411. For 2026 the two together come to $51,411. Amendment 3 would replace the non-school side with a flat exemption of $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, adjusted for inflation after that. The school exemption stays at $25,000.

So a homestead assessed at $250,000 or less would owe no county, city or special district property tax at all from 2028. On our estimate from the state’s own roll, that is about half of all homesteads in most large counties, including 52 percent in Miami-Dade and 51 percent in Broward. Those owners would still pay school taxes. A homestead assessed above $250,000 would pay non-school tax only on the value above it.

The amendment also lets counties and cities raise the exemption further for their own taxes, all the way to the full assessed value, under a procedure the Legislature must write. Special districts can do the same with the approval of their voters. That local option is how property taxes on a homestead could reach zero somewhere, and it would take a separate decision in each place.

What the Ballot Says, Word for Word

The Legislature placed Amendment 3 on the ballot in June 2026 as House Joint Resolution 1F. In August a circuit judge ruled its original title and summary misleading and ordered them rewritten, and the Attorney General filed the new wording in mid-August. This is the text in the Division of Elections record, which is what voters will see.

INCREASED HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION; LOWER CAP ON INCREASES IN NON-HOMESTEAD PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS

This amendment increases the homestead exemption, for all non-school taxes, to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and adjusts for inflation thereafter. It requires the Legislature to prescribe a uniform procedure for counties and municipalities, for their respective levies, to increase the homestead exemption up to full assessed value, and allows special districts, subject to referendum approval, to do the same.

Persons who are not Florida residents on December 31, 2026, will receive the existing homestead exemption upon qualifying for a homestead exemption, with the increased homestead exemption beginning with the fifth year of exemption, to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution.

This amendment reduces the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead properties from 10% to 5%.

This amendment requires counties and municipalities to use property taxes solely for public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt service, retirement benefits for employees, and operations and administration. Other expenditures may be approved by county officers or county or municipal governing bodies unless prohibited by general law, notwithstanding Article VII, Section 9(a) of the Florida Constitution, which allows counties and municipalities to levy property taxes for their respective purposes.

This amendment takes effect January 1, 2027.

A Florida constitutional amendment needs the votes of at least 60 percent of the voters voting on it. If Amendment 3 passes, the Legislature then has to write the laws that carry it out, including the procedure for local increases and the rules for new residents.

What Amendment 3 Would Save You, County by County

Pick your county and enter your homestead’s assessed value, which is on your county property appraiser’s website and on the notice of proposed taxes mailed each August. The calculator applies the amendment’s exemption and your county’s average non-school tax rate.

Across the state, the median homestead would save the most in Broward, about $2,604 a year once the $250,000 exemption applies, and the least in Liberty, about $245, where the median homestead is assessed at $70,240 and so has little value above today’s exemption. Collier is the outlier among large counties. Its median homestead is assessed at $360,305, second only to Monroe, but its tax rate is low, so its median saving is $1,106.

We built these figures from the state’s parcel records rather than from a sample home. For each of the 5,251,737 homestead parcels on the 2026 preliminary roll, we compared today’s non-school exemption with the amendment’s, multiplied the difference by the county’s 2025 non-school rate, and took the median. The method and its limits are in the Sources of Law below. The Save Our Homes savings by county come from the same roll.

The December 31, 2026 Line for New Florida Residents

Amendment 3 treats people differently depending on when they became Florida residents. A person who is not a Florida resident on December 31, 2026 receives today’s exemption when they qualify for homestead, and the larger exemption begins with their fifth year of exemption. Until then they keep $25,000 against school taxes and $50,000 against the rest, which is roughly what everyone has today.

Two details in the measure soften that rule. Starting in 2030, a county or city can shorten the five years for its own taxes by a two-thirds vote of its governing body, for what the amendment calls a critical local need. And the ballot summary itself says the rule applies “to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution.”

That phrase is there for a reason. Florida has tried a residency waiting period on this exemption twice before, and its Supreme Court struck both down, in 1952 and in 1983, on state constitutional grounds that an amendment can override. A waiting period keyed to arrival date also raises a federal right to travel question, and the United States Supreme Court has struck down state benefits, including a property tax exemption, that favored longer-term residents. No court has ruled on this measure. Our homestead exemption guide walks through that history.

For a family already planning to move, the practical point is the date. Florida decides homestead on January 1, so a family that becomes a Florida resident in December 2026 is on the established side of the line and can apply for the 2027 exemption by March 1, 2027. A family that arrives in January 2027 misses the 2027 exemption and, if the amendment passes, waits five years of exemption for the larger amount.

Second Homes, Rentals and Businesses

Property that is not a homestead gets no new exemption. That covers a snowbird’s Florida condo that is not their permanent residence, a rental house and commercial property. What changes is the cap on how fast the assessed value can rise. Today the non-school assessment of that property can increase up to 10 percent a year. Starting January 1, 2027 the limit would be 5 percent. The cap has never applied to school taxes and would not under the amendment. A sale can still reset the assessment to market value.

Where the Money Would Come From

Across all 67 counties, we estimate the higher homestead exemption alone would remove about $7.6 billion a year of non-school tax from homesteads once it reaches $250,000, before any local increases in the exemption and before the lower cap on other property.

The amendment also limits what property tax money can pay for. Counties and cities would have to use it for public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, debt service on bonds, employee retirement benefits, and operations and administration. Other spending could still be approved by county officers or by a county or city commission unless a general law prohibits it.

Supporters describe the measure as tax relief and a limit on local spending growth. Several counties have warned that it would force cuts to services or higher rates on other property. We take no position on the vote. The estimates above hold each county’s current rate constant so that you can see the exemption’s effect on its own.

What It Means for Your Estate Plan and Your Move

A lady bird deed keeps your homestead exemption either way. You keep a life estate, Florida treats that as the title the exemption requires, and signing the deed is not a change of ownership, so your Save Our Homes cap stays too. The same is true of a home in your revocable living trust while you remain its lifetime beneficiary. If Amendment 3 passes, a home held either way would take the larger exemption on the same schedule as any other homestead.

The amendment does not change who inherits the house, the protection from creditors, or the rule that a child who inherits must apply for their own exemption. Those are separate parts of Florida homestead law. A child who moves into an inherited home and first becomes a Florida resident after December 31, 2026 would be a new resident under the amendment.

For a family moving here, the documents that matter before December 31 are the ones that show where you live. A recorded declaration of domicile is good evidence of Florida residency, and it goes to the clerk of court, not the property appraiser. The homestead application itself goes to the property appraiser and is due March 1. Our flat fee for a declaration of domicile is from $350, drafted for your county and recorded for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The retired couple in Broward. Their homestead is assessed at $240,000 after years under the Save Our Homes cap, although the house would sell for far more. From 2028 their assessed value sits under the $250,000 exemption, so their county, city and special district taxes would fall to zero. Their school taxes, on $215,000 of value, would not change.

The family closing in January. A family from New Jersey buys in Sarasota with a closing set for January 8, 2027. Moving the closing and the move itself into December 2026 would put them on the established side of the line. Waiting means no exemption for 2027 and, if the amendment passes, today’s smaller exemption until their fifth year of exemption.

Sources of Law

• CS/HJR 1F (2026F Legislature), enrolled, signed by the officers and filed with the Secretary of State June 16, 2026 (flsenate.gov, Session/Bill/2026F/1F). Operative text: Fla. Const. art. VII, §6(a)(1)a. (school levies $25,000; non-school levies $150,000 beginning January 1, 2027 and $250,000 beginning January 1, 2028); §6(a)(1)b. (a person who had not maintained a permanent residence in Florida as of December 31, 2026: $25,000 and $50,000, with the increased amount beginning with the fifth year of exemption); §6(a)(2) (inflation adjustment); §6(a)(4) (local increases up to all remaining assessed valuation; from January 1, 2030 a two-thirds vote may reduce the five-year requirement; special districts by referendum); art. VII, §4(g)(1) and (h)(1) (non-homestead cap of 10 percent before January 1, 2027 and 5 percent beginning January 1, 2027, non-school levies); art. XII schedule (effective January 1, 2027).
• Ballot title and summary as rewritten after the August 2026 circuit court ruling: Florida Department of State, Division of Elections, Initiatives/Amendments/Revisions database, sponsor The Florida Legislature/House, status Active, made ballot 06/16/2026, ballot number 3, election year 2026 (record read from the Wayback Machine capture of September 17, 2026). The enrolled resolution’s original title and summary are not the ballot language.
• Approval threshold: Fla. Const. art. XI, §5(e) (at least sixty percent of the electors voting on the measure).
• Current exemption: Fla. Const. art. VII, §6(a); Fla. Stat. §196.031(1)(a)-(b) (2026 amounts $25,000 and $26,411, total $51,411, per county property appraiser publications). Assessment date: Fla. Stat. §192.042(1). Application by March 1: Fla. Stat. §196.011(1)(a). Save Our Homes cap: Fla. Const. art. VII, §4(d); Fla. Stat. §193.155.
• Equitable title for life estates and beneficial interests for life: Fla. Stat. §196.041(1)-(2). Declaration of domicile: Fla. Stat. §222.17.
• Prior waiting periods: Sparkman v. State, 58 So. 2d 431 (Fla. 1952); Osterndorf v. Turner, 426 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 1983). Right to travel and residency-based tax benefits: Zobel v. Williams, 457 U.S. 55 (1982); Hooper v. Bernalillo County Assessor, 472 U.S. 612 (1985).
• County estimates: Florida Department of Revenue, 2026 preliminary NAL roll files for all 67 counties (homestead parcels are those with JV_HMSTD above zero; assessed value is AV_HMSTD; Citrus from its 2026 final file), and the Department of Revenue Data Book millage table for 2025 (non-school millage is the Total Millage Rate less School Board Operating and School Board Debt Service, a county-wide average). For each parcel, today’s non-school exemption is $25,000 plus up to $26,411 on value between $50,000 and $76,411; the amendment’s is the lesser of the assessed value and $150,000 (2027) or $250,000 (2028). Assessed values are held at 2026, rates at 2025, and other exemptions are ignored, so these are estimates. Computed September 27, 2026. (all sources retrieved September 27, 2026)

Updated on September 28, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. General information about a proposed constitutional amendment, not legal or tax advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. The figures are estimates, the outcome of the vote and of any court challenge is unknown, and we take no position on the measure. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.