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Florida's property tax back in chaos

By
Real Estate Agent with Orlando Area Real Estate Services

FlagIt 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/

 

Comments (12)

Aslan Realty Advisors, LLC
Fort Myers, FL
Staying a step ahead with Pride!

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.

 

Dec 01, 2007 02:55 AM
Ron Parise
LocateHomes.com - Cape Coral, FL

Simply put;  the amount of your property tax is calculated by multiplying the tax rate (millage) by the assessed value. Local government still needs to pay for all the services we demand. so if one factor in this  calculation goes down the other will have to go up. If the assessed value goes down by half, the rate will  double. There will be no savings unless we can cap local government spending.

The problem with Florida Property taxes isnt that its to high, its that its unfair, We are funding our government on the backs of the snow birds, and investors. while the folks that actually use most of the services get the Homestead exemption and Save our Homes

Any plan that continues this inequity will fail...At least thats my opinion

Dec 01, 2007 02:58 AM
Simon Conway
Orlando Area Real Estate Services - Orlando, FL
Paige - interesting analogy. Certainly a lot more needs to be done. Thanks for your comments.
Dec 01, 2007 03:08 AM
Gary L. Waters Broker Associate, Bucci Realty
Bucci Realty, Inc. - Melbourne, FL
Eighteen Years Experience in Brevard County

I am not a big believer that any true cuts will ever come. I do believe that the system needs to be re-worked so as to spread the responsibility as Ron noted. We will see.....

Dec 01, 2007 03:09 AM
Simon Conway
Orlando Area Real Estate Services - Orlando, FL
Ron- I agree with you about the fairness of the system, but that's where our agreement ends. Property taxes in this State are WAY too high. The windfall the various bits of Government received has simply been spent - on what? On nothing of any significance to the people. We don't demand these services, we demand an efficient Government. At State level the waste just on special sessions this year is hard to fathom. One on insurance, two on property taxes and one on the budget. What is wrong with regular sessions? The budget is simple - at State level, everybody has a 10% cut. At local level, cap the spending. Enough already!
Dec 01, 2007 03:11 AM
Simon Conway
Orlando Area Real Estate Services - Orlando, FL
Gary - abolish it all! Replace it with sales tax. There is no fairer system as long as you cap spending at the same time.
Dec 01, 2007 03:12 AM
Karen Monsour
Coldwell Banker Fort Lauderdale Beach - Fort Lauderdale, FL
REALTOR, SSRS - Sells FL Waterfront, Short Sale Expert!

Simon,

I don't think this debacle will ever get resolved. I like your sales tax idea. This is absolutely crazy.

Dec 01, 2007 07:14 AM
Ron Parise
LocateHomes.com - Cape Coral, FL

Simon

I didnt mean to say that property taxes weren't too high.  Some say they are (my clients from small towns in the midwest) some say they are not (Canadians and folks from New York, Mass. etc) I didnt intend to comment on that at all.  I just wanted to emphasize that, in my mind,  the bigger problem is the unfair, unequal assessment of those taxes. The solution to the problem of unfairness is a re-work of the system we use to fund local government. Thats what the current proposal is trying to do. I like replacing it all together with a sales tax, And the solution to the problem of too high taxes is to control spending. And apologies to Paige and Simon I dont think a wood ax approach or cuts across the board will work. We need a surgical approach, big cuts in someplaces, surgical cuts in others, and a little creativity and common sense wouldnt hurt either

Dec 01, 2007 09:41 AM
Marchel Peterson
Results Realty - Spring, TX
Spring TX Real Estate E-Pro
Simon, I was listening to Rush on Friday and he was talking about your unfair taxation in Florida.  It sounds like a mess.  We really are not much better off here in Texas; our property taxes are really high. 
Dec 01, 2007 11:56 AM
Simon Conway
Orlando Area Real Estate Services - Orlando, FL

Karen - Crazy is a great description!

Ron - I think we agree more than we disagree here!

Dec 01, 2007 02:49 PM
Simon Conway
Orlando Area Real Estate Services - Orlando, FL
Marchel - The system is very unfair in Florida - it needs sorting out badly.
Dec 01, 2007 02:50 PM
Anonymous
marie

It is truly an unfair system that overtaxes the new homeowners and out of state homeowners.

Until there is some type of fairness applied. recapture provision inacted on older homeowners

of property to equalize the wide gap, there will be a lack of revenue. Doing away with property

taxes altogether and inacting a sales tax might work, or approve gambeling in casinos might

work also. Also drilling offshore & applying a tax rebate to the citizens of florida might work.

We need to really put these options on the table, and not let the legislatures bait & switch the

final product , as they did with ammendment one.

Jul 21, 2008 08:37 AM
#12