Florida homeowners have been getting crushed by property taxes for years.
Ron DeSantis had a plan to fix it – and the Florida Legislature got their hands on it.
Now a judge just ruled their version was so misleading it can't go on the ballot as written.
What DeSantis Actually Proposed
DeSantis called the special session in May.
His original plan was simple: raise the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $250,000 immediately and set Florida on a path to eliminating homestead property taxes entirely.
That's a real tax cut.
The kind that changes what owning a home in Florida actually costs.
The Legislature had other ideas.
They phased the exemption in over two years – $150,000 in 2027, then $250,000 in 2028.
They carved out school district taxes.
They stripped the trust fund DeSantis wanted to help local governments through the transition.
Then they wrote the ballot language themselves.
That's where this fell apart.
The Ballot That Treated Voters Like Idiots
The Legislature titled their amendment "Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes."
Leon County Circuit Judge David Frank called that exactly what it was – a political slogan, not a ballot title.
State law requires ballot language to be fair, neutral, and accurate. It has to tell voters what the amendment does – not sell them on a yes vote.
The Legislature's version failed on both counts, and the judge listed the lies one by one.
The ballot promised the amendment "benefits Florida taxpayers."
But whether it benefits taxpayers is the question voters are being asked to decide – you can't put the conclusion in the description.
The ballot promised to "ensure funding for core services."
But the amendment would cut local government revenue by more than $8.4 billion a year.
Police departments, fire stations, roads – none of that gets a guarantee.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2059645468724838742?s=20
The ballot promised to "protect small businesses."
The amendment doesn't specifically protect small businesses.
And the ballot claimed the $250,000 exemption kicks in January 2027. Wrong.
The exemption goes to $150,000 in 2027. T
he full $250,000 doesn't hit until 2028.
"The present ballot language would deprive the voters of the opportunity to make a meaningful decision," Judge Frank wrote.
DeSantis told them this was coming.
After the lawsuits were filed, he warned publicly that if plaintiffs pushed the attorney general to rewrite the language, they'd be handing him a win – because his version would be tougher than what the Legislature wrote.
The Legislature didn't listen.
Tallahassee Just Handed Opponents a Gift
Now Attorney General James Uthmeier has 10 days to rewrite the ballot language.
County election offices start printing ballots August 27.
That's a tight window – and plaintiffs get another 10 days to challenge whatever Uthmeier produces.
The amendment will still be on the November ballot.
Sixty percent of voters need to approve it for it to become law.
That's a high bar under normal circumstances.
It's a higher bar when the people running the yes campaign spent two months associating themselves with ballot language a judge just declared "clearly and conclusively defective."
Former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes – who sued over the language – was blunt: "The ballot box is not a place for political advertising."
https://twitter.com/positiveosceola/status/2084704792480284817?s=20
He's right.
And the fact that a Republican had to drag his own party's legislature into court to get an honest ballot question tells you how badly Tallahassee handled this.
DeSantis said publicly he wasn't going to campaign for the amendment. "What the Legislature did wasn't my proposal," he said.
He's not wrong about that either.
Florida Homeowners Are Still Waiting
Here's what gets lost in the legal back-and-forth.
Florida homeowners are still getting hammered.
Property values surged, assessments followed, and local government budgets grew fat while homeowners watched their tax bills climb every year.
DeSantis was right about the problem and right about the solution.
The Legislature took that solution, watered it down, dressed it up in campaign language, and handed opponents the exact ammunition they needed to drag this into court during ballot printing season.
Real property tax relief – the kind DeSantis originally proposed – would have put thousands of dollars back in the pockets of Florida homeowners every year.
That's still on the table if voters approve the amendment in November.
But Tallahassee politicians just made that harder than it needed to be.
Sources:
- Staff Report, "Judge orders rewrite of Florida Amendment 3 ballot language," Florida Politics, August 4, 2026.
- Staff Report, "Judge rules Florida property tax amendment ballot wording 'defective,' orders a rewrite," WCTV, August 4, 2026.
- Jason Delgado, "Florida Legislature approves DeSantis property tax cut plan for November ballot," FOX 13 Tampa Bay, June 3, 2026.
- Staff Report, "'Wasn't my proposal': DeSantis to vote for homestead tax amendment but distances himself from Legislature's version," News4Jax, July 3, 2026.
- Press Release, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Special Session on Property Tax Relief," Executive Office of the Governor, May 27, 2026.
