TALLAHASSEE, Fla —Leon County’s Circuit Court Judge David Frank has ruled ballot language for the Property Tax Amendment (Amendment 3) is “clearly and conclusively defective.” Frank ordered Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to submit corrected language to the Department of State within 10 days. Read the full ruling.
In response, House Democratic Caucus Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) issued the following statement:
“The idea that this amendment would save our homes from excessive property taxes was always a scam and misleading to voters,” Driskell said. This amendment to eliminate property taxes will hand massive tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations, leaving hard-working families, seniors, and small businesses to pay for it. This is not a tax break but a tax shift that will cause new fees, higher taxes, and cuts to essential local services. I believe Floridians can and will stop this deception from seeing the light of day in November.”
Judge Frank’s ruling comes less than 24 hours after the Florida Sheriff’s Association (FSA) announced its opposition to Amendment 3. FSA cited concerns over funding for county-level law enforcement.
Prior to the rewrite, a “Yes” vote supports the constitutional amendment to:
- Increase the homestead tax exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with the amount indexed to inflation starting in 2029;
- provide that new residents receive a smaller exemption until they’ve lived in the state for five years;
- Decrease the cap on how much the assessed value of non-homestead properties, such as rentals and commercial buildings, can increase each year from 10% to 5%, except for school district taxes;
- Limit how counties and municipalities can spend property tax revenue on public safety, education, infrastructure, natural resource projects and flood control, local bonds, employee retirement benefits, and government operations; and other changes.
