Jacksonville News

Policy Position

Florida is facing an affordability crisis as housing, rent, utility, and other costs continue to rise. Addressing this challenge requires a comprehensive approach that provides meaningful tax relief for homeowners, renters, commercial property owners, and businesses.

Although well-intended, Amendment 3 benefits only homeowners with homesteaded property.  As proposed, the Amendment leaves businesses and a large segment of the workforce without relief and exposes everyone to the risk of higher costs. For that reason, the JAX Chamber opposes Amendment 3 on the November ballot.

Approximately 40 percent of Duval County residents and one-third of Florida residents rent their homes and would receive no direct relief under the Amendment. Businesses and commercial property owners would also be excluded from the Amendment’s primary benefit.

At the same time, cities and counties would still need to fund essential services. To replace lost homestead property tax revenue, local governments could reduce services, add fees, raise tax rates on non-homesteaded property, increase the property tax millage rate or use a combination of such measures. As a result, renters, businesses, and commercial property owners ultimately could bear a greater share of the cost.

A significant change in Florida’s tax structure and the resulting impact on how local governments are funded requires careful, fact-based analysis of both its benefits and its consequences. Amendment 3 does not provide a comprehensive framework for evaluating its effects across Florida’s broader tax system or preventing unintended consequences and potential cost shifts.

The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which convenes every 20 years and will meet in 2027, is the appropriate forum to conduct that review and develop a comprehensive solution for everyone.

The Commission is specifically charged with examining Florida’s tax structure, the revenue needs of state and local governments, constitutional limitations on taxation and expenditures, and alternative methods of meeting the state’s long-term funding needs. Its broad mandate allows it to consider not only how governments generate revenue, but also how those resources are spent.

This process provides an opportunity to evaluate property tax relief alongside Florida’s entire tax system and to develop solutions that improve affordability without unintentionally shifting costs to businesses, commercial property owners, renters, or other taxpayers.

The JAX Chamber therefore opposes Amendment 3 and supports a comprehensive, equitable approach to tax reform that considers the needs of all Floridians and the long-term fiscal health of state and local governments.

The JAX Chamber looks forward to participating in the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission’s work next year. We encourage business leaders to engage in the process and will keep our members informed as comprehensive tax reform proposals develop.