How Florida's property tax cut would affect renters
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Public debate about Florida's proposed property tax overhaul has focused mainly on its cost to local governments, which state economists this week estimated at nearly $12 billion a year.
- But renters might end up covering much of that cost themselves.
Why it matters: More than half of Tampa Bay renters are already cost-burdened, spending at least 30% of their income on housing.
Threat level: If the amendment passes, local governments will collect billions less in taxes from homeowners. It's likely they'll seek to recoup that money from rental, commercial and other properties.
- Lawmakers' solution: The amendment would prevent assessed values for those properties — which are used to calculate their tax bills — from climbing more than 5% year to year. (The cap is currently 10%.)
- But local governments could still raise their tax rates. If they did, property taxes on rental units would increase, and landlords might pass some of those costs on to tenants through higher rents.
Zoom in: Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano tells Axios the county has seven voter-approved bonds funding a jail, fire stations, parks and recreation.
- Debt payments appear on tax bills and are financed through countywide property taxes.
- If the amendment passes, Pasco may need to raise property tax rates to meet those obligations, increasing taxes on businesses, apartments, mobile home parks and other properties.
Friction point: The Florida Policy Institute also questioned the amendment's residency requirement, which would bar people who buy homes after Jan. 1, 2027, from receiving its tax benefits for five years.
- The idea is to prioritize Floridians over transplants. But the progressive-leaning research group says the amendment is unclear whether longtime renters who buy after 2026 must also wait five years to benefit.
What they're saying: "The bottom line is someone is going to pay," Fasano says. "Someone is going to pay for the shortage of revenue the counties and cities will be losing."
- "There is no way that these counties and cities can lose hundreds of millions of dollars and just go on their merry way like nothing's happened," he adds.