No Florida bill to eliminate property tax has become law, and none is close. The highest-profile effort from the 2024 session, House Bill 1371, died in committee on March 8, 2024, and it was not even a repeal bill — it was a study bill.1Florida Senate. House Bill 1371 (2024) – Property Tax System Study The 2026 session has produced a batch of joint resolutions that take a narrower swing: eliminating non-school property taxes on homesteaded properties, not all ad valorem taxes. Any version would require a constitutional amendment and 60% voter approval, so nothing changes for your tax bill in the near term.
Where the Legislation Stands
Representative Ryan Chamberlin filed HB 1371 in 2024 under the title “Property Tax System Study.” It would have directed OPPAGA, the legislature’s research arm, to analyze what would happen if Florida eliminated ad valorem taxes statewide and report back to legislative leadership.1Florida Senate. House Bill 1371 (2024) – Property Tax System Study It never got a floor vote. No study was ordered, no findings were produced.
The 2026 proposals are different in form and scope. They are joint resolutions, not standard bills, because the authority to levy property taxes is written into the Florida Constitution. The lead resolution is CS/CS/HJR 203, “Elimination of Non-school Property Tax.”2Florida House of Representatives. CS/CS/HJR 203 (2026) – Elimination of Non-school Property for Homesteads Companion resolutions address specific groups and mechanics:
- HJR 205 would eliminate non-school property taxes only for homeowners age 65 and older.
- CS/CS/HJR 213 would modify assessment increase limitations.
- HJR 211 would let accrued Save Our Homes benefits apply toward non-school tax elimination.2Florida House of Representatives. CS/CS/HJR 203 (2026) – Elimination of Non-school Property for Homesteads
Three things to notice about this list. The proposals leave school property taxes alone. They apply only to homesteaded property, meaning your primary residence, not rental property, commercial property, or second homes. And they are still proposals, not law.
Why It Can’t Just Pass
Changing the state constitution takes two steps. First, a joint resolution has to clear both the House and Senate with a three-fifths vote of each chamber’s full membership.3Florida Senate. Florida Constitution – Article XI, Section 1 Then the question goes on a general election ballot, and at least 60% of voters have to approve it.4Florida Department of State. Constitutional Amendments/Initiatives If approved, the change takes effect on the date written into the resolution, usually the following January.
That 60% threshold is why repeal talk moves slowly even when it has political momentum. A simple majority is not enough.
The Revenue Hole
Florida’s ad valorem property taxes generate more than $55 billion a year for counties, cities, school districts, and special districts.5Florida Senate. Florida Constitution – Article VII, Section 9 They are the single largest revenue source for most local governments. School districts rely on them for roughly 47% of their funding. Fire departments, sheriff’s offices, jails, libraries, parks, and public health services all draw from the same pot.
Florida has no state income tax, so any serious replacement conversation starts with sales tax. The math is unforgiving. The Tax Foundation estimated that the statewide average combined sales tax rate would need to climb from roughly 7% to over 15% to fully replace property tax revenue, and that figure ignores the drop in consumer spending a higher rate would cause. County-by-county, the numbers get worse. Orange County, with its tourism base, could potentially manage at 11.3%. Palm Beach County would need around 19%. Glades County, which is agricultural and has limited retail, would need 32.5%.6Tax Foundation. There’s No Good Way to Pay for Property Tax Repeal
Even the lowest of those replacement rates would give a major Florida city a higher sales tax than any large U.S. city currently charges. It would also shift the burden toward tourists and lower-income residents, who spend a larger share of their income on taxable goods. And sales tax collections drop in recessions, right when local governments need stable funding.
This is the specific problem the 2026 proposals try to work around by leaving school taxes in place and limiting elimination to homesteaded properties. The gap is smaller, but it is still a gap, and the resolutions do not themselves specify how it gets filled.
What It Would Mean for Your Mortgage
If you pay property taxes through an escrow account with your mortgage servicer, elimination would remove that line item from your monthly payment. Federal rules require servicers to run an annual escrow analysis and adjust payments to match actual disbursements.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Escrow Accounts With no tax bill to pay, the analysis would show a surplus, trigger a refund of excess funds already collected, and lower your monthly payment going forward. Homeowners insurance and any other escrowed items would still be collected.
Home prices are the harder question. Property taxes are a recurring cost of ownership, so removing them makes owning cheaper month to month. Buyers who can afford more each month tend to bid more, which pushes purchase prices up. How much of the tax savings would get absorbed into higher sale prices depends on interest rates, inventory, and whatever replacement taxes end up filling the revenue hole.
What It Would Mean for Your Federal Taxes
Because Florida has no state income tax, property taxes are the main component of the federal state and local tax (SALT) deduction for Florida homeowners who itemize. The SALT cap for 2026 is $40,400 for most filers. Eliminate property tax, and most Florida homeowners lose any meaningful SALT deduction, because there is no state income tax to deduct in its place.
For most people this does not matter much. The standard deduction is high enough that most Florida taxpayers do not itemize. For high-value homeowners who currently deduct substantial property tax, losing the deduction would reduce the net benefit of elimination, because part of their current tax bill is already offset by lower federal taxes.
Relief That Already Exists
While the repeal debate plays out, Florida permanent residents already have several protections worth checking against your own tax bill.
The homestead exemption reduces the taxable value of your primary residence by up to $50,000, and it applies to all property taxes, including the school levy.8Florida Department of Revenue. Property Tax – Taxpayers – Exemptions The Save Our Homes cap limits annual increases in assessed value on a homesteaded property to the lower of 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index. Over years, that gap between assessed value and market value can grow substantially, which is why long-term owners often pay far less than new buyers on an identical house. The protection resets when the property sells.
Additional exemptions are available for widows and widowers, people who are blind, veterans with service-connected disabilities, and totally and permanently disabled residents. Property placed in conservation in perpetuity also receives an ad valorem exemption.9Florida Senate. Florida Constitution – Article VII, Section 3
If you have not filed for homestead or any exemption you qualify for, that is the one concrete step available now. Everything else is a proposal that still has to clear the legislature and 60% of voters before it reaches your tax bill.