What Amendment 3 would actually change
The proposal would raise the homestead exemption on non-school taxes, tighten an assessment cap on some other property and make newer Florida residents wait for the larger break.
For eligible homesteads, the non-school exemption would be $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. School levies keep the existing $25,000 exemption, and Save Our Homes stays.
Florida voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to rewrite several property-tax rules at once. The biggest change is straightforward: eligible homestead owners would be able to shield much more of their assessed value from city, county, fire and other covered non-school taxes.
The homestead exemption gets much larger
Florida's first $25,000 homestead exemption applies across property-tax levies, including schools. Amendment 3 keeps that school treatment in place.
On covered non-school lines, the exemption would rise to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. After that, the amount would adjust for inflation.
That exemption comes off assessed value. It is not a percentage discount on a home's sale price. If a homeowner has less taxable value left on a covered line than the exemption can absorb, that line falls to zero. It does not go negative, and the school line does not disappear with it.
Newer Florida residents would wait
The ballot summary draws a line at Dec. 31, 2026. People who become Florida residents after that date would begin with the current homestead exemption when they qualify, then reach the larger exemption in their fifth year.
The state still has to write the administrative rules that will handle some details of that waiting period.
Some rental and commercial property gets a tighter cap
Amendment 3 also changes the annual assessment-growth cap for specified non-homestead property. On covered non-school lines, that cap would fall from 10 percent to 5 percent.
That can apply to rental and commercial property. It limits how quickly assessed value can rise when just value rises faster. It does not guarantee that a landlord will lower rent, that a business will see the same savings every year, or that a property-tax bill can never increase.
Local governments could go further later
The measure also tells the Legislature to create a uniform process allowing counties and municipalities to raise the homestead exemption as high as full assessed value for their own levies. Special districts could seek a similar change by referendum.
That is permission for a later decision. Amendment 3 does not itself eliminate all local homestead property taxes in 2028.
What stays the same
Save Our Homes remains in the constitution. School levies remain outside the larger exemption and the tighter non-homestead cap. Local governments still set millage rates under Florida law.
Amendment 3 needs at least 60 percent of the vote. If it passes, its stated start date is Jan. 1, 2027.
Sources
Notes
- None.
Read next
- No, Amendment 3 does not reset every homestead to market value The sentence being circulated as a new reset is existing constitutional language. Save Our Homes remains in place.
- A No vote on Amendment 3 would not undo Florida's new millage law The constitutional amendment is still on the ballot. The law governing how local boards set property-tax rates already passed and stays in force either way.