Florida Property Tax Amendment: County Impact and Who Pays

The same cut, seen from both sides.

For three days every page on the internet answered one question: how much will I save. As of early June the conversation flipped to the opposite question, what gets cut to pay for it. We built the savings calculator for the first question. This page answers the second, with the same data and no spin. Every homesteaded dollar that drops off the non-school tax rolls is relief for the owner and a hole in a local budget. They are the same dollar.

The Florida House staff analysis of the amendment (CS/HJR 1F) estimates it reduces non-school local revenue by about $4.6 billion in the first year and roughly $8.4 billion a year once the $250,000 exemption is fully phased in for 2028. That is not a school-funding number. The amendment specifically protects school district taxes. The money at stake funds county and city government, police and fire, parks, libraries, roads, and special districts.

Who actually absorbs it.

If homesteaded owners pay less, the load shifts. Renters and owners of non-homestead property, meaning second homes, investment property, and commercial real estate, do not get the larger exemption. The amendment does lower their annual assessment increase cap from 10% to 5%, which slows how fast their bills rise but does not cut them. Businesses keep paying on full value. And local governments face a choice: cut services, raise millage rates, or find other revenue. The net effect is a tax base that leans harder on everyone who does not qualify for homestead, which is the part of this debate renters and landlords are loudest about.

What each home removes from your county.

The honest per-county number we can compute exactly is the per-home figure. On a homesteaded $350,000 home, the value removed from the local non-school base is the added exempt amount, up to $200,000 at full phase-in, times your county's non-school millage. The table below ranks all 67 counties by that figure. A high-millage county like St. Lucie loses about $3,271 per home per year at full phase-in; a low-millage county like Monroe loses about $1,023. The statewide average non-school rate is about 9.58 mills. Multiply the per-home figure by the number of homesteads in a county and you get its total exposure, which is exactly why the precise county totals wait on official homestead counts (see the methodology note).

All 67 counties, ranked by per-home impact.

Non-school local revenue removed per homesteaded $350,000 home, per year, under the proposed exemption. 2027 reflects the $150,000 phase, 2028 the full $250,000. Counties marked "est." use Florida TaxWatch 2025 county-average millage; the rest are verified against county appraisers. Figures apply to passage in November 2026.
#	County	Non-school mills	Per home, 2027	Per home, 2028
1	St. Lucie est. Southeast Florida	16.35	$1,635	$3,271
2	Broward Southeast Florida	13.34	$1,334	$2,669
3	Pinellas Tampa Bay	12.89	$1,289	$2,577
4	Volusia est. Central Florida	12.71	$1,271	$2,543
5	DeSoto est. Southwest Florida	12.65	$1,265	$2,530
6	Gulf est. Panhandle	12.46	$1,246	$2,493
7	Palm Beach est. Southeast Florida	12.22	$1,222	$2,444
8	Hernando est. Tampa Bay	12.14	$1,214	$2,427
9	Holmes est. Panhandle	12.10	$1,210	$2,420
10	Franklin est. North Florida & Big Bend	11.71	$1,171	$2,342
11	Duval Northeast Florida	11.52	$1,152	$2,304
12	Levy est. North Florida & Big Bend	11.39	$1,139	$2,278
13	Dixie est. North Florida & Big Bend	11.19	$1,119	$2,238
14	Miami-Dade Southeast Florida	11.09	$1,109	$2,219
15	Escambia est. Panhandle	11.04	$1,104	$2,208
16	Bradford est. Northeast Florida	10.85	$1,085	$2,169
17	Manatee est. Tampa Bay	10.79	$1,079	$2,159
18	Union est. Northeast Florida	10.73	$1,073	$2,147
19	Liberty est. North Florida & Big Bend	10.46	$1,046	$2,091
20	Hardee est. Southwest Florida	10.45	$1,045	$2,091
21	Charlotte est. Southwest Florida	10.42	$1,042	$2,084
22	Glades est. Southwest Florida	10.34	$1,034	$2,069
23	Highlands est. Southwest Florida	10.20	$1,020	$2,039
24	Orange Central Florida	10.17	$1,017	$2,035
25	Lake est. Central Florida	10.15	$1,015	$2,029
26	Putnam Northeast Florida	10.02	$1,002	$2,004
27	Suwannee est. North Florida & Big Bend	9.99	$999	$1,998
28	Gilchrist est. North Florida & Big Bend	9.99	$999	$1,998
29	Polk est. Central Florida	9.69	$969	$1,937
30	Pasco Tampa Bay	9.65	$965	$1,931
31	Lee est. Southwest Florida	9.47	$947	$1,894
32	Calhoun est. Panhandle	9.44	$944	$1,889
33	Alachua Northeast Florida	9.36	$936	$1,871
34	Taylor est. North Florida & Big Bend	9.33	$933	$1,865
35	Hendry est. Southwest Florida	9.27	$927	$1,854
36	Hillsborough est. Tampa Bay	9.23	$923	$1,846
37	Madison est. North Florida & Big Bend	9.16	$916	$1,832
38	Brevard Central Florida	9.10	$910	$1,821
39	Martin est. Southeast Florida	8.97	$897	$1,794
40	Indian River est. Southeast Florida	8.95	$895	$1,791
41	Baker est. Northeast Florida	8.94	$894	$1,788
42	Columbia est. Northeast Florida	8.92	$892	$1,785
43	Washington est. Panhandle	8.90	$890	$1,780
44	Okeechobee est. Southwest Florida	8.90	$890	$1,780
45	Osceola est. Central Florida	8.83	$883	$1,767
46	Leon est. North Florida & Big Bend	8.81	$881	$1,763
47	Seminole est. Central Florida	8.80	$880	$1,760
48	Clay Northeast Florida	8.78	$878	$1,756
49	Citrus est. Central Florida	8.68	$868	$1,737
50	Lafayette est. North Florida & Big Bend	8.67	$867	$1,733
51	Flagler est. Northeast Florida	8.50	$850	$1,700
52	Jackson est. Panhandle	8.45	$845	$1,690
53	Hamilton est. North Florida & Big Bend	8.39	$839	$1,678
54	Wakulla est. North Florida & Big Bend	8.25	$825	$1,650
55	Jefferson est. North Florida & Big Bend	7.91	$791	$1,582
56	Sarasota est. Tampa Bay	7.82	$782	$1,564
57	Okaloosa est. Panhandle	7.47	$747	$1,495
58	Santa Rosa est. Panhandle	7.43	$743	$1,485
59	St. Johns Northeast Florida	7.27	$727	$1,454
60	Sumter est. Central Florida	7.12	$712	$1,425
61	Bay est. Panhandle	7.12	$712	$1,423
62	Gadsden est. North Florida & Big Bend	6.98	$698	$1,397
63	Nassau Northeast Florida	6.93	$693	$1,385
64	Collier est. Southwest Florida	6.41	$641	$1,283
65	Walton est. Panhandle	5.66	$566	$1,132
66	Marion Northeast Florida	5.53	$553	$1,106
67	Monroe est. Southeast Florida	5.12	$512	$1,023

Common questions.

Will the Florida property tax amendment defund local services?

It cuts the money local governments collect, but it does not touch school funding. The Florida House staff analysis estimates the amendment reduces non-school local revenue by about $4.6 billion in the first year, growing to about $8.4 billion a year once the $250,000 exemption is fully phased in. Whether that becomes service cuts, a shift onto other taxpayers, or absorbed growth depends on each city and county budget. School taxes are protected by the amendment itself, so classrooms are not the question. Police, fire, parks, libraries, and roads funded by non-school millage are.

Who pays for the property tax cut if homeowners pay less?

Three groups carry more of the load. Renters and owners of non-homestead property (second homes, investment property, commercial buildings) do not get the larger exemption, and the amendment also lowers their annual assessment cap from 10% to 5%, which slows their increases but does not exempt them. Businesses keep paying on full value. And local governments either cut spending, raise millage rates, or lean on other revenue. The exemption shifts the local tax base toward those who do not qualify for homestead.

How much does each homesteaded home remove from my county budget?

On a homesteaded $350,000 home, the amount removed from the local non-school tax base equals the added exempt value times your county's non-school millage. At full phase-in that is up to $200,000 of value times non-school millage. In St. Lucie County, the highest non-school rate on this list at about 16.35 mills, that is roughly $3,271 per home per year. In Monroe County, near 5.12 mills, it is about $1,023. The statewide total depends on how many homesteads each county has, which is why this page shows the exact per-home figure rather than an invented county total.

Is the amendment definitely happening?

No. It passed the Legislature on June 2, 2026 and goes to a statewide vote in November 2026, where it needs 60% approval to amend the constitution. A Stetson University poll put support at 77%, above that bar, but the measure could also face a court challenge before the vote. Treat every figure here as a projection tied to passage, not a certainty.

Methodology and sources.

Per-home figures are computed from data/millage-rates.json, the same FY2025-26 millage file that powers our calculators and all 67 county pages. The math mirrors the site's exemption logic: today's homestead exempts the first $50,000 of value (the first $25,000 from all millage, the next $25,000 from non-school millage), and the amendment lifts the non-school exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. Revenue removed per home equals the added exempt value times non-school millage. Northeast Florida counties are verified against county property appraisers; the rest use Florida TaxWatch 2025 county-average millage and are marked "est."

The statewide $4.6 billion to $8.4 billion range is the Florida House staff analysis of CS/HJR 1F, reported by CBS Miami and fact-checked by PolitiFact and WLRN. Poll support of 77% is from a Stetson University Center for Public Opinion Research survey reported by Florida Trend. We do not publish invented county totals: a precise total for a county requires its homesteaded parcel count and taxable value from the Florida Department of Revenue, which is not yet wired into this dataset, so this page reports the exact per-home figure and the verified statewide range instead.

This is a projection, not a certainty. The amendment passed the Legislature on June 2, 2026 and needs 60% voter approval in November 2026. It may also face a court challenge before reaching the ballot. Treat every figure here as conditional on passage.

Keep going.

Run your own savings in the Florida amendment calculator, estimate your real year-1 bill in the Save Our Homes tax estimator, or open your county's page from the full Florida property tax hub.

The Amendment's Other Half: What Your County Stands to Lose.