Save Our Homes Continues to Protect Florida Homeowners from Soaring Property Taxes

Florida’s Save Our Homes amendment is easing tax pressure for many long-time homeowners and reducing the urgency they feel for new property-tax reforms. The measure, approved by voters in 1992 and in effect since 1995, caps annual assessment increases on owner-occupied homes at 3% or the inflation rate, whichever is lower, which has kept tax bills comparatively low for residents who have stayed in their homes for decades. When a property changes hands, however, its assessed value resets to market level, so newer buyers in similar homes often pay 50% or more in taxes than neighbors who purchased long ago. As a result, a growing share of Florida’s local property-tax revenue is coming from newer homeowners and non-homestead properties like rentals and commercial real estate, while millions of homesteaded owners remain relatively shielded from recent spikes in housing costs and property taxes. For more information click here.