It is hard to believe after a promise from the Governor; a regular session of the legislature and TWO special sessions (as a cost to the Florida tax payer of $40,000 a day), but the property tax issue simply will not go away.
The legislature finally agreed to put something incredibly weak on the ballot for January 29 which, if passed by the voters, will give the average Floridian a saving of $240.
Since then we have the Speaker of the House (who voted for it) urging Citizens not to approve that, but to put pressure on to get something else.
And now a committee which meets once every 20 years (this is not a typo - I mean TWENTY YEARS) and has the power to put amendments on the ballot much later than the legislature had, has come up with a plan that would save Floridians way more money.
The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission plan calls for a property tax exemption to be 50% of a homes market value. To cover the $12 billion that public schools would lose from the exemption, the state's six-cent sales tax would increase by a penny.
BUT, that penny increase would have a short shelf life - just three years at which point it would disappear and the legislature would have to come up with ways to get that money back. Of course it is entirely possible that the market itself will provide the solution with more Floridians (for if approved this would certainly fire more growth) paying into the pot. But if not then the legislature would have to look for cuts.
Personally, I believe this would be a wonderful solution. Problem? It won't be on the ballot until November of next year and the amendment the legislature has proposed will be there on January 29th.
This story still has a long way to go so watch this space. certainly I will be talking about it on my radio show tomorrow (see below).
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(Copyright © 2007 By Simon L Conway All Rights Reserved.)
Please give me a call if you have questions about the Central Florida real estate market. You can reach me on 407 876 8200. Also visit my web site at http://www.simonconway.net/ or http://www.move2orlando.net/
Also remember to check out my weekly radio show - The Home Team - which airs every Sunday at Noon Eastern and if you are not in Central Florida then you can tune in on line at http://www.540wfla.com/
Simon Conway
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Let me say it this way...
It's not like Cutting paper....where in some cases one good slice with some scissors does the trick. It's more like wood chopping-heavy liftin and a steady rain of blows are required.