An End to Homesteaded Property Taxes in Florida Isn’t in Daniel Perez’s Plans – Top 3 Takeaways, October 20th, 2025
Takeaway #1: Proposed property tax relief in Tallahassee
While the focus on government affairs remains on the partial federal government shutdown, we’ve now instructively completed nearly three weeks with 34% of the federal government offline, that most still haven’t even noticed – there is a notice that begins to come due in under two weeks that every Floridian feels in some form or fashion. The impact of property taxes. Some people rent and feel the impact of property taxes through consistently rising rates, some people make a mortgage payment and notice the impact through an escrow payment (most common- 70% of properties in Florida do have escrow), and some people own their home outright and see quite clearly the increases every year when they cut checks. November 1st is the opening of the window for the property tax season when early payments, during early months, can earn discounted rates on property tax payments (starting at a 4% discount in November). This is when the most payments for property taxes are made, with 30% of the states’ property taxes being paid during November (followed by December at just over 20%). Florida gets a lot of things right when it comes to taxes, however where our state ranks lowest is with the roof over your head. Overall, Florida ranks 23rd for property taxation – with select counties and municipalities ranking far worse. For example, only 6% of the country pays higher property tax rates than what is paid for the average property owner in Palm Beach County. The theme of Governor DeSantis’s final state session, and his last major policy push to permanently reshape the “Free State of Florida”, is to truly provide freedom for you to own your own home without the risk of government confiscation of your property without annually paying ever rising property tax payments. As Govenor DeSantis has outlined, and we’ve discussed, it’s completely doable to do away with homesteaded property taxes if local governments, in general, simply went back to spending at pre-COVID, 2019 levels – in inflation adjusted dollars I might add. The question isn’t if it can be done but whether…..