DeSantis Calls Special Session for $250,000 Florida Homestead Exemption
What DeSantis Proposed on May 27
Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled a property tax cut plan on May 27, 2026 and called a three-day special session of the Florida Legislature to begin work on it the following Monday. The headline number: the state’s homestead exemption would rise immediately from $50,000 to $250,000, with a longer-term path toward eliminating property taxes on homesteaded properties altogether. Because the homestead exemption is in the Florida Constitution, any change requires statewide voter approval — the special session sets up a November 2026 ballot question requiring 60% support.
If voters approve, roughly 60% of Florida homesteaded property owners would owe zero in property taxes starting with the 2027 tax roll. For the other 40% — generally higher-valued homes — the tax bill drops materially but doesn’t disappear.
The math on a $400,000 Tampa home: with a current $50,000 exemption, the taxable basis is $350,000 — generating roughly $5,250 in annual property tax at a 1.5% effective rate. With a $250,000 exemption, the basis drops to $150,000, and the bill drops to about $2,250. For a $250,000 home, the bill goes to zero.
Why Reed Corporation Clients Care
A meaningful share of our NYC clients own or are eyeing Florida property — either as a snowbird base, a kids-at-college investment, or a domicile pivot to escape New York’s state income tax. The DeSantis proposal changes the carry math on Florida property ownership.
Snowbird clients with a Florida home and a NYC apartment
If you spend more than 183 days in Florida and have homesteaded your Florida property, the exemption expansion would directly lower your Florida holding costs. The catch — and this is the part that matters for New York taxes — is that homesteaded status is one of the indicators New York’s Department of Taxation uses to assess whether you’ve actually changed domicile. Homesteading in Florida helps you argue for Florida domicile. But homesteading does not, by itself, win the day if you keep a NYC apartment, kids in NYC schools, or NYC employers.
Investor clients who own Florida rental property
Rental property is not eligible for the homestead exemption — it never has been. The DeSantis plan doesn’t change rental tax treatment. If you own a Miami condo as an investment, your property tax bill stays where it is.
Clients evaluating a domicile move to Florida
If you’re seriously considering moving from NYC to Florida — and we have several clients running this analysis right now — the homestead expansion adds a tailwind. A $250,000 exemption can make a $750,000 South Florida home effectively tax-free at the property line. Combined with Florida’s lack of state income tax, the move math gets sharper.
What the Plan Actually Says
The DeSantis framework has two pieces. The first is an immediate constitutional amendment raising the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $250,000. The second is a longer-term path toward zero — full property tax elimination on homesteaded property, phased in over several years and contingent on the state finding replacement revenue (sales tax, fees, or some combination).
The Florida homestead exemption already has two layers. The first $25,000 applies to all taxes including school district levies. The second $25,000 applies only to non-school taxes. The new $250,000 would presumably reduce the school-tax basis to the same extent — though that exact split is what the special session will negotiate, because school funding is the political pressure point.
Florida’s existing homestead rules include the Save Our Homes assessed-value cap (3% per year or CPI, whichever is lower). The DeSantis plan leaves SOH intact — meaning long-time Florida residents continue to benefit from compressed taxable values regardless of market appreciation.
The funding question: Florida school districts get roughly 40% of their revenue from property taxes. A $250,000 homestead expansion crimps that revenue. Until the special session resolves how to backfill school funding — higher state appropriations, a sales tax hike, something else — local school budgets are uncertain.
The Trade-Offs Floridians Are Debating
Florida news outlets have been quick to flag the funding question. Florida Phoenix called out the risk to schools, health care, and public safety. WINK News pointed to sales tax increases or new fees as the likely substitute revenue source. The economists they quoted argued that a sales-tax shift hits lower-income households harder than a property tax — because property tax falls on owners, while sales tax falls on everyone who buys.
For a Reedcorp client in a $1 million-plus Florida home, the math is unambiguously favorable. For a Reedcorp client in a modest Florida property who also has a Florida operating business, the math depends on whether the state raises the sales tax to fund the cut.
The New York Angle
This proposal sharpens the contrast between Florida and New York at exactly the moment Albany is finalizing its FY27 budget. New York is debating new revenue. Florida is debating how to eliminate revenue. We expect the gap to drive a few more domicile moves over the next 18 months — and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to scrutinize those moves harder than ever.
Our advice for clients running domicile math: don’t let the headline drive the decision. The Florida property tax cut is real and worth running through your numbers. But homestead status alone has never been enough to defend a New York audit. The full domicile defense requires NY apartment status, day counts, employment relationships, family location, and a paper trail. See our piece on Austin’s parallel property tax cycle for a sense of how state-by-state property tax politics overlap with domicile strategy.
What to Watch in the Special Session
- The exact ballot language. Constitutional amendments in Florida are interpreted strictly — a sloppy clause about exemption phase-in could leave middle-value homeowners worse off than the headline suggests.
- School funding backfill. If the bill ties the expansion to a sales-tax increase, the political coalition behind it gets thinner.
- Effective date. If the expansion takes effect for the 2027 tax roll, county property appraisers (including Miami-Dade and Broward) need legislation by August to get the new exemption coded into the assessment system in time.
- Investor property carve-outs. Watch for any language that would extend the expansion (or a separate cut) to non-homesteaded property. Right now there’s no signal of that, but the special session can produce surprises.
How The Reed Corporation Works With Florida-Exposed Clients
For NYC clients with Florida property, our business management work covers two interlocking questions: how to improve Florida property tax filings (homestead applications, portability of Save Our Homes benefits, exemption stacking) and how to defend a New York domicile change if you’re making one. We coordinate with Florida property tax counsel for clients in residency disputes.
If you currently own Florida rental property under an LLC, we also handle the federal real estate tax planning — see our coverage on real estate professionals and the broader real estate niche.
Common Questions
If I’m a New York resident with a Florida home, does the expansion help me?
Not directly. The Florida homestead exemption only applies to your permanent residence. If your domicile is New York, you can’t claim Florida homestead even if you own the property. The expansion helps you only if you change domicile.
I just moved to Florida from NYC. How do I claim homestead?
File a homestead application with your county property appraiser by March 1 of the year after you become a Florida resident. You’ll need a Florida driver’s license, voter registration, and proof of permanent residency at the property. The application is one-time — you don’t refile each year unless your status changes.
What about my Florida rental condo?
The expansion doesn’t apply. Rental property is taxed at the full assessed value with no homestead exemption. The bill also doesn’t change tangible personal property tax on rental furnishings, which is a separate Florida tax.
If the amendment fails in November 2026, what happens?
The exemption stays at $50,000. The DeSantis administration would likely revisit in a future session, possibly with a smaller increase. Constitutional amendments in Florida require 60% voter approval — recent property tax measures have generally cleared that bar, but it’s not automatic.
How does this interact with Save Our Homes?
Save Our Homes caps annual assessed-value growth at 3% or CPI on homesteaded property. The exemption expansion would stack on top — first the SOH-capped assessed value is calculated, then the new $250,000 exemption is subtracted to get the taxable basis. Long-time Florida homeowners benefit twice: from a compressed assessment and a larger exemption.
Source
This commentary is informed by WGCU’s report, “DeSantis unveils property tax cut plan, calls special session,” published May 27, 2026.