By: Matt Caldwell

This week (November 17th, 2025) the House considered eight bills (seven constitutional amendments and a general bill) for property tax reform. While there are pros and cons to each of the proposals, HJR 207 stands out as the best proposal to increase the savings to homestead property owners. This proposes to create a third homestead exemption of 25%, above the two existing $25,000 exemptions.  When the original homestead was adopted in 1934, every homeowner received a $5,000 exemption on the value of their property for ad valorem taxation; at a time where the average home value was around $4,000. The purpose was clear: to make homeownership tax free for nearly every Florida resident! However, in 1934, we were barely dreaming of a public highway system; today, just our cities and counties maintain roughly 110,000 lane miles. Public works such as water, sewers, libraries, parks, mosquito control(!); the list goes on and on. These were either mostly private functions or completely non-existent. Suffice it to say that it was far easier to balance a budget without taxes when there were no public services.

So where does that leave us? Just on inflation, that would mean a base exemption of $125,000. But frankly, this just won’t work, as inflation will continue to rob us of value moving forward and for our rural counties, they will immediately become dependent on state budget transfers to operate their core functions. Therefore, the simplest solution is to convert the homestead benefit to a percentage basis.  In so doing, we eliminate the inflation tax and bring equity between our rural and urban counties. The House proposal is for 25% as a third “layer of cake”, but it still excludes the school taxes from being affected, as well as creates a new constitutional mandate for law enforcement. In tax policy, the simpler is always better. To that end, a major improvement would be to drop the new mandates, make the homestead apply to every property tax line, including schools, and to simplify the percentage homestead in a way that also doesn’t retrograde the benefit on homes with less than $200,000 in value.

There are still more innovative ideas to explore, such as Milton Friedman’s “least bad tax”, being the land value tax wherein improvements (houses, barns, docks, etc.) are not taxed at all, only the land underneath. Or for example, Speaker Perez recently raised the issue of structural government reform.  When one considers that Florida has five water management districts, seven FDOT districts, 20 judicial circuits, 67 counties, over 400 cities, and thousands of special districts, no one can seriously contest that the potential to reduce duplication of services and distinguish between general revenue taxes and tax for service must exist. Comprehensive restructuring of this magnitude will have to wait for another article. In the meantime, HJR 207 provides an incredibly powerful starting point for homestead property tax reform, and I am hopeful that this concept will gain greater traction in the coming months.

– Matt Caldwell currently serves as the elected Lee County Property Appraiser and served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2010-2018.

The following section was prepared by Editor Katrina Salokar to expand on how this proposal affects Lee County homeowners. Matt Caldwell’s original article concludes above.

What This Means to You

For Lee County homeowners, the takeaway is straightforward: real, measurable property tax relief is within reach. HJR 207 would provide a third homestead exemption based on a percentage of value instead of a fixed amount. This matters because fixed-dollar exemptions lose ground to inflation every year. A percentage exemption grows as values rise, protecting homeowners in a way the original 1934 homestead never anticipated.

For families on fixed incomes, for working homeowners trying to keep up with rising costs, and for residents in both rural and urban areas, this approach creates a fairer and more predictable system. It restores the original purpose of the homestead exemption, keeping homeownership stable, affordable, and secure, while recognizing the demands of a modern Florida with far more public infrastructure than existed in the 1930s.

If the Legislature adopts a percentage-based exemption that applies across all property tax lines, including schools, homeowners would see a system that is simpler, more transparent, and more equitable from one county to the next. In practical terms, it means keeping more of your income, maintaining your home with less strain, and benefiting from a policy designed to meet today’s realities rather than those of ninety years ago.

What You Can Do Now

If you believe Florida’s homestead exemption should reflect the world we live in today, not the world of 1934, this is the moment to engage. HJR 207 is still moving through the legislative process, and lawmakers pay close attention when residents speak clearly and respectfully about policies that affect their families and their community.

Here are meaningful actions you can take:

• Contact your state representatives to express support for a percentage-based homestead exemption that keeps pace with inflation.
  
• Encourage them to strengthen the proposal by applying the exemption to every property tax line, including school taxes, and by removing mandates that add unnecessary complexity or shift burdens between jurisdictions.
  
• Share this information with neighbors, civic groups, and community organizations so more homeowners understand how significant this reform could be.
  

Reform of this scale does not happen automatically. It requires informed Floridians making their voices heard. If adopted, this proposal could deliver long-term relief for Lee County homeowners and help modernize the state’s property tax system for decades to come.

To stay updated as HJR 207 progresses, visit www.swflba.com and sign up for alerts.