Florida votes on a cut to tax on homes. Voters backed every such cut since 2016.
Florida votes on 3 November on Amendment 3, a big cut to property tax on homes. It needs 60% yes and could cut city budgets by up to 23%.
What happened
Amendment 3 on Florida’s ballot would cut property tax for homeowners, but could cut city budgets by up to 23% next year.
Florida changes its constitution only when at least 60% of voters on the question say yes. On voters decide Amendment 3, a property tax change that state lawmakers put on the ballot. It raises the part of a home’s value that is free from tax to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. It also cuts the yearly rise allowed in the taxed value of other property from 10% to 5%.
The change also lets cities and counties spend property tax only on a fixed list of basic services, such as public safety and schools. Lawmakers passed it on , by 75 votes to 26 and 30 to 9, in a special session that Governor Ron DeSantis had announced on , and a governor’s veto does not apply to it.
The Guardian says the change would cut a typical homeowner’s bill by about $1,000, but could cut city budgets by up to 23% next year. A state estimate puts the loss of local property tax outside schools at $4.95bn in 2027-28 and $8.78bn in 2028-29. Florida counties and cities collected $32.3bn in property tax in 2025, against $24.3bn in 2022.
If the proposed amendment or revision is approved by vote of at least sixty percent of the electors voting on the measure, it shall be effective
Constitution of the State of Florida, Article XI, section 5(e)
Governor DeSantis told a meeting in Miami on : “Vote YES on Amendment 3!“ The Florida League of Cities, which speaks for the state’s cities, says “Amendment 3 is not a tax cut, it’s a tax shift“.
Sources: theguardian.com
The Pattern
We looked for cases where Florida lawmakers asked voters to cut property tax at a November general election, after the 60% rule came in, while local property tax had grown by a fifth or more in three years. We found nine such votes from 2016 to 2024, on five election days. All nine got more yes votes than no votes, and six reached 60%.
Show the other 7 cases
The Read
The vote on is a midterm election, which falls halfway through a president’s term. Every one of the nine got more yes votes than no votes, even the three that failed. Those three missed 60% by 1.3 to 2.7 points and all came at the midterms of 2018 and 2022, where one of four reached 60%, while at the three presidential elections all five did.
Amendment 3 is larger than any of the nine and is the first to limit what cities may spend property tax on. In 2018 a smaller break for all homeowners, with home value from $100,000 to $125,000 free of tax, got 58.1%.
Two broad cuts outside the nine went different ways. A cut for homes and other property passed with 64.1% on a primary day in , while a broad cut in 2012, when property tax was falling, got 43.2%.
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