TaxWatch: Amendment 4 Would Boost GDP, Jobs, Home Sales

Passage of an upcoming constitutional amendment would increase Floridians' personal income by $5.3 billion over a 10-year period, according to a new study.

The analysis by Florida TaxWatch also projected that voter approval of Amendment 4 would increase the state's gross domestic product by $1 billion during the same period.

Amendment 4 proposes:

• An additional homestead exemption for first-time Florida homebuyers, equal to 50 percent of the just value of a property up to the median just value of a homestead property in that county, which phases out over five years by reducing by 20 percent each year.
• A reduction in the nonhomestead maximum annual assessed value increase cap from the current 10 percent (on nonschool levies) to a new level of 5 percent and an extension of nonhomestead assessed value caps through the 2022 tax year (which also does not apply to school levies).
• Legislative authority to eliminate the Save Our Homes Recapture Rule, which currently allows counties to continue raising taxes on homesteaded properties even when the market value of those properties declines.

The TaxWatch study also estimated that passage of Amendment 4 would result in the creation of 19,483 private, nonfarm jobs and boost home sales by as much as 383,810 between 2013 and 2022.

Read the full report here.