Vote NO on Amendment 1

Proposed Homestead Exemption Benefits Relatively Few Floridians and Will Likely Increase Taxes on Everyone Else

Floridians will be voting on as many as 13 state constitutional amendments on November 6, 2018. The first on the list, Amendment 1 (A1), would create a new $25,000 homestead exemption from property taxes. While voting for A1 will have surface appeal to some voters, Florida TaxWatch research shows that Floridians should vote against A1 for several reasons, including the fact that A1 benefits only a small percentage of Floridians, it will inevitably lead to higher taxes for nearly everyone, and it will further exacerbate the tax shift from homestead to non-homestead property.

The new homestead exemption would apply to the portion of a home’s value from $100,000 to $125,000. This would be in addition to the two $25,000 homestead exemptions that currently exist, which exempt the portion of home values between $0 and $25,000 and $50,000 and $75,000. The first exemption applies to all taxes, the second and proposed third exemption do not apply to school taxes.

At the current average non-school millage rate, it is estimated that the new exemption would be worth $644.7 million in the first tax year, 2019 (FY2019-20). The estimated “savings” would increase to $662.5 million in FY2020-21 and $680.7 million in FY2021-22.