Florida's Republican legislature spent a year slow-walking DeSantis on property taxes.
He called a special session anyway.
Now every lawmaker in Tallahassee votes on the record Tuesday – and 60 percent of Florida homeowners find out whether they stop writing property tax checks forever.
What DeSantis Actually Built
This is not a trim around the edges.
The constitutional amendment advancing through Tallahassee raises the homestead exemption from $50,000 today to $150,000 in 2027 – then to $250,000 in 2028.
At $250,000, roughly 60 percent of Florida homeowners owe nothing.
The governor's own office confirmed why the number is that big: local governments have been collecting nearly double what they collected seven years ago, with total collections on track to hit $83 billion by 2032.
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Rep. Toby Overdorf, the bill's House sponsor, put the numbers on the record during committee: "From 2020 to 2024 we've seen statewide property tax levies jump from $37.7 billion to $55.2 billion."
That's nearly $18 billion more per year that local governments are collecting now than in 2020 – not by raising rates, but by riding rising home values while homeowners absorbed the bill.
The Same Fight Florida Has Had Before
Florida voters have done this before.
They raised the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000 in 2006 – and local governments ran the same apocalyptic predictions about gutted services that Tallahassee Democrats are running right now.
Local governments survived just fine.
What the 2006 fight proved is the same thing playing out today: bureaucracies protect their budgets before they protect taxpayers.
Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia said the quiet part loud: "Taxpayers are sick and tired of their local governments taxing and spending, crying poor, saying they don't have the money and then come back to you as an endless ATM asking for more, more, more."
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That ATM just got a serious withdrawal limit.
How the Democrats Responded
Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani from Orlando told the committee that people are calling her office about insurance, healthcare, and rent – not property taxes.
She's right that property taxes aren't the only cost crushing Florida families.
She's wrong that this means doing nothing about them.
The Senate version already includes specific protections for county constitutional officers, employee retirement systems, and local public healthcare – meaning the core services argument is answered inside the bill itself before Democrats even finish making it.
Every Democratic amendment died in committee.
Republican-backed protections passed.
The House Rules and Ethics Committee cleared the calendar by voice vote with no debate.
This Is What DeSantis Planned From the Start
Last October, DeSantis told the legislature he was willing to call a special session right in the middle of primary season if they kept stalling.
"I don't think a lot of these guys would want to vote the wrong way then," he said. "It's interesting, when they know the voters are watching, they tend to govern themselves accordingly."
The legislature kept stalling.
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He called the session anyway – and now every Republican who spent a year hedging on property taxes casts a public vote before their primary.
DeSantis designed the whole mechanism that way: the amendment needs 60 percent of the legislature to reach the ballot, then 60 percent of voters to pass.
He put the boldest version of tax relief he could get in front of the people who actually pay the taxes – and made sure every politician who tried to water it down had to do it in public.
The same local officials holding emergency webinars about service cuts this week are the ones who quietly pocketed nearly $18 billion in extra annual collections without holding a single press conference about that windfall.
Florida homeowners haven't forgotten what happened to their tax bills.
Sixty percent of them will remember in November.
Sources:
- Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Special Session on Property Tax Relief," Executive Office of the Governor, May 27, 2026.
- Ron DeSantis, Special Session Warning Statement, Patch/Florida Capitol Coverage, October 2, 2025.
- Toby Overdorf, House Committee Testimony, Florida Legislature Special Session, June 1, 2026.
- Florida Legislature Staff Analysis, Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing, June 1, 2026.
- Blaise Ingoglia, Statement on Local Government Spending, Florida CFO Office, 2026.
