Does Amendment 3 give Polk rental properties the $250,000 homestead exemption?
No. Homestead is for a permanent resident’s primary home. A rental in Polk County is non-homestead. Source: Pinellas County Property Appraiser Amendment 3 FAQs.
I-4 inland · Table 4 · tax year 2028 model
Amendment 3 in Polk County: rental tax impact
Polk rentals do not receive the proposed $150,000 / $250,000 homestead exemption. The dollars below are Walczak’s backfill model — what happens if millage is raised to replace lost homestead revenue, limited by 10-mill caps.
· · Figures retrieved 2026-10-18 · Polk millage is on the county page.
Walczak Table 4 for Polk
| Property type | Additional 2028 tax | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment unit | $365 | 19% |
| Single-family rental | $876 | 21% |
Percents are published as whole numbers. Statewide Table 2 is more precise (SFR 14.6%, apartments 14.8%). School millage is unchanged by the amendment but is in the baseline used for the percent.Source · What Amendment 3 does (PCPAO)
Cities in Polk (Table 5)
Questions owners actually ask
How much would Amendment 3 raise taxes on a Polk rental?
Walczak’s 2028 revenue-neutral millage model (Table 4) puts the average Polk single-family rental at $876 additional tax (21%) and the average apartment unit at $365 (19%). Local governments could instead cut spending or raise other fees. Source: Jared Walczak, Amendment 3 Could Shift Tax Burdens to Renters (Walczak Policy Consulting, September 2026).
Holding-cost calculator for Polk
Defaults use Unincorporated Polk County, SWFWMD tax code 90 (12.9291 mills) and the OIR homeowners-with-wind average — not a DP-3 quote.
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