Amendment 3 Explained: A $150,000 Homestead Exemption in 2027, $250,000 in 2028 — and a 60 Percent Bar
Amendment 3 would raise the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, cut the non-homestead assessment cap from 10 percent to 5 percent, and leave school taxes - and this year's tax bill - unchanged. It needs 60 percent to pass.
Of the three state amendments on Miami-Dade ballots, Amendment 3 is the one aimed at the property tax bill. If it passes, the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes - the county, city and special-district levies - rises to $150,000 in 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028, adjusted for inflation after that. The measure also lowers the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property, such as rentals, second homes and commercial property, from 10 percent to 5 percent, and requires the Legislature to set a uniform procedure by which counties and municipalities could raise the homestead exemption up to a home's full assessed value. It takes effect January 1, 2027, and, like every Florida constitutional amendment, it needs 60 percent approval, not a simple majority.
Two limits define what the measure does not do. School taxes are not changed, because the larger exemption applies only to non-school levies. And anyone who is not a Florida resident on December 31, 2026 receives the current exemption first, with the increased exemption beginning in their fifth year of homestead. It is an exemption increase, not an abolition of the homestead property tax.
One piece of timing matters this weekend: the 2026 property tax bill becomes payable today, November 1, and it was calculated under current law, whichever way the vote goes. Florida's early-payment discount is at its best this month - 4 percent off in November, stepping down to 3 percent in December, 2 percent in January and 1 percent in February, with the full amount due in March and bills delinquent April 1. South Florida voters who want to decide the measure early have until 7 p.m. Sunday at any early voting site in their county; on Tuesday, voting is at the assigned precinct only, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
