Florida homeowners just got slapped with a 100 percent property tax increase over seven years.
Now DeSantis is trying to do something about it.
Ron DeSantis is fighting to cut your property taxes and the politicians he trusted are stabbing him in the back.
The Betrayal No One Saw Coming
Florida Senate President Ben Albritton voted yes in June to send Amendment 3 to voters.
Six weeks before Election Day, he released a statement – through the Florida Sheriffs Association, of all places – urging Floridians to vote no.
Former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo did the same.
She told an audience at the Greater Naples Chamber that she had planned to speak in favor of Amendment 3 and changed her mind on the spot.
"I was supposed to speak in favor of it, and I actually said I'm going to vote against it," Passidomo said.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2113067977297756402?s=20
The vote that sent Amendment 3 to the ballot was 30-9.
Passidomo was a yes.
Albritton was a yes.
Now both of them are no – and they're taking their scare tactics straight to law enforcement audiences and local business groups to maximize the damage.
Their argument is that Amendment 3 would hurt rural counties and cut public services.
Property tax collections across Florida's 67 counties went from $32 billion in 2019 to over $60 billion today – driven by rising property values that homeowners never asked for and can't cash out on without selling their homes.
DeSantis cut the state budget four years in a row.
Local governments spent every dollar of that windfall and came back demanding more.
What Amendment 3 Actually Does
The amendment would increase Florida's homestead exemption for non-school property taxes from the current $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 – with inflation adjustments after that.
An average Miami-Dade homeowner with a $250,000 assessed value would save roughly $2,500 a year.
The amendment also creates a path for the Legislature to eventually eliminate non-school property taxes on homesteaded properties entirely.
Florida Realtors have put $18 million behind the campaign to pass it.
The opposition has raised about $537,000.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2114819130264084843?s=20
That 33-to-1 spending gap tells you who actually benefits from passing Amendment 3 – Florida homeowners – and who benefits from killing it.
Local governments, hospital districts, and county mayors who built their budgets on the assumption that your property taxes would keep rising forever.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is leading the opposition, warning the county could lose $300 to $500 million in revenue.
What she is not telling you is where that money came from in the first place – from homeowners who watched their bills double while Cava's general fund grew 67 percent since 2021.
A state review identified well over $100 million in budget cuts Miami-Dade could make simply by eliminating spending the state flagged as excessive.
DeSantis Is 10 Points Away From the Biggest Tax Cut in Florida History
Constitutional amendments in Florida require 60 percent of voters to approve.
The most recent University of North Florida poll found 50 percent – 10 points short of what Amendment 3 needs to pass.
Three polls released the same week showed wildly different outcomes – 63 percent support, 55 percent support, and 42 percent support.
Early voting is underway right now.
DeSantis knows exactly what's at stake.
He spent the last two weeks doing roundtables across the state, sitting with Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and local officials who actually believe the government can live within its means.
"Local governments are taking in almost twice as much money – far more than inflation and the population has increased," DeSantis said at the Miami roundtable on October 21.
He is right.
And he is fighting members of his own party to prove it – which tells you everything about who Florida's Republican establishment actually works for.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2112985986812756010?s=20
This is a fight between Florida homeowners and every government agency that got comfortable spending money that was never theirs to keep.
Florida created its homestead exemption in 1934 – to prevent families from losing their homes during the Depression.
The purpose has always been to protect the people inside the house, not the bureaucrats spending the tax revenue.
Amendment 3 is that protection updated for 2026, when a housing boom handed local governments a windfall at the direct expense of the families who own those homes.
DeSantis called this the biggest tax relief in the modern history of Florida.
The politicians who voted to put it on the ballot just called it a problem.
Vote yes on November 3 – or hand those politicians exactly what they want.
Sources:
- Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Hosts Miami Roundtable in Support of Amendment 3 Property Tax Relief," flgov.com, October 21, 2026.
- Florida Phoenix, "Despite earlier hesitation to campaign, DeSantis hosts event supporting Amendment 3," floridaphoenix.com, October 2026.
- RISMedia, "With Election Day Looming, Polls Differ on Florida Property Tax Cut Amendment," rismedia.com, October 14, 2026.
- Florida Phoenix/The Capitolist, "New Poll Shows Amendment 3 Above 60% Threshold With Revised Language," thecapitolist.com, September 9, 2026.
- Florida Trend, "Taxing Question," floridatrend.com, October 10, 2026.
