Whenever Florida residents have an opportunity to impose fiscal discipline upon state & local authorities, they should do so without hesitation.
A “Yes” vote on Amendment 3 is one of those opportunities.
If passed with the necessary 60% support, Amendment 3 would increase the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments thereafter. It would also reduce the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10 percent to 5 percent.
Florida residents deserve meaningful property-tax relief now- and they should also be pushing towards making the property tax a one-time event that is paid at a property’s closing- or even ending it entirely- Governor Ron DeSantis deserves major kudos for pushing these possibilities to the forefront.
Back in July, Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia said that his office’s fiscal reviews had identified $3.7 billion in spending as “excessive or wasteful” across Florida county & local governments- and that wasn’t counting many counties or municipalities where reviews weren’t yet conducted.
No one should be falling for the predictable canard that many elected officials quickly default to threatening direct cuts to “vital" "basic" "essential" services- whatever fear-mongering exaggeration works- when certain sources of tax revenue are curtailed. Folks should understand that said officials are typically attempting to distract from questionable, embedded discretionary spending and unjustifiable cost overruns within those same budgets.
Yes, some counties and municipalities in the state have better fiscal management and lower levels of waste, fraud and abuse than others do, but we still have a festering statewide overspending problem- and by comparison, Florida’s financial management is much better than most other states that have far deeper levels of corruption.
The residents of Florida need complete transparency and a deeper understanding of all public monies that flow to and through governmental budgets- the system won’t always police itself, so it’s ultimately upon us to push greater fiscal responsibility whenever possible.
Vote YES on Amendment 3.
