In a step toward radical property tax reform, the Florida House of Representatives approved a joint resolution on Thursday that would completely end nonschool property taxes for homestead properties as soon as Jan. 1, 2027.
The move came in the form of an amendment to HJR 203, introduced by Rep. Monique Miller, which scrapped a 10-year phaseout and replaced it with an immediate cut, while also adding a backstop that bars local governments from trimming budgets for law enforcement, firefighters, and other first responders, even though those services are largely funded by revenue from property taxes.
The vote tees up the kind of clean amendment Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has demanded for the November ballot.
“If you want to get something to pass, you’ve got to go with one vehicle,” he said at an unrelated press conference in April. “You’ve got to go with one vehicle.”
But the resolution has a murky path forward. While it comfortably passed the House with an 80-30 vote along party lines, it will require a three-fifths majority in the Senate to make it on the ballot in November.
And so far, the upper chamber is skeptical. State Sen. Ed Hooper told reporters that the Senate’s offering “won’t be as generous.”
“We have to agree with the House, or it goes nowhere,” Hooper, a Republican, added. “Whatever we send to the voters has to be agreed upon, totally, and that may be where the difficulty begins.”
What the House just approved
Since late October, the state House has been mulling over no fewer than seven proposals. Its latest move amends a major relief bill, replacing its slow phase-in with a plan for near-immediate effect.
The original version of HJR 203 envisioned a 10-year phaseout of nonschool property taxes on homesteaded primary residences. The amended version would turn the switch off almost immediately, eliminating those taxes as soon as Jan. 1, 2027.
Miller, a Republican, argued that the math supports moving faster.
“After looking at the numbers, it became incredibly clear that we have the ability to do this without putting undue burdens on local government, and I believe that it can be done,” Miller told colleagues ahead of the vote.
And yet, budget analysts say the cost of HJR 203 would be enormous.
The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference puts the cost at about $13.3 billion a year, while the House estimates $4.8 billion less cash and $14.7 billion less recurring revenue from local nonschool property taxes in fiscal year 2027–28.
The fiscal squeeze is compounded by what the resolution doesn’t do: It doesn’t name a replacement revenue source for counties and cities, even as it locks in minimum spending for certain public-safety services.
Supporters of abolition often point to sales tax as a reasonable alternative, but a recent analysis from the Tax Foundation estimates that the statewide sales taxes would have to rise from 7.02% to 15.34%—more than double that of California, which has the highest state-level sales tax rate.
If localities were responsible for replacing their own revenue rather than sharing the burden across the state, the numbers would be even starker. Small counties with large property tax bases and low sales tax revenues, like Glades County, would need to raise their sales tax rate to 32.5%.
Where’s DeSantis?
Before the House vote, Speaker Daniel Perez framed the moment as the culmination of a year of support from the governor.
“Our actions today are not sudden, nor do they meet any reasonable definition of quick,” Perez, a Republican, told members. “The governor pushed this topic into the forefront of our political conversation one year ago.”
But after demanding that lawmakers deliver voters one clean property tax proposal, DeSantis has largely stayed out of the day-to-day fight—at least publicly—while the House and Senate move in different directions.
On the morning of the House vote, he offered only a vague update in a post on X.
“Regarding a property tax proposal for the 2026 ballot: we’ve been working with members of the Senate who have been great partners,” read the update. “Given that it can’t be voted on by the people before November, it’s better to do it right than do it quick!”
His message signaled where the leverage may shift next. With the regular session nearing its end, and no guarantee the chambers can reconcile a proposal that’s bold enough for the House and restrained enough for the Senate, DeSantis has floated the option of a special session on property taxes.
If negotiations stall, it could become the only viable route to producing the singular amendment he’s been calling for.