Recently, The Florida State House passed Tax relief for Florida's veterans. What this bill would do is to exempt Patrick AFB military personnel and all military from Ad Valorem property taxes on their Florida homesteaded property while they are doing duty outside of the US in designated military operations. This would come in the form of a credit that is calculated by the amount of time deployed. The exact amount and method of this credit has yet to be established. The measure was passed unanimously by the Florida House, but has yet to been voted on by the Senate. There was a similar bill that passed the house last year, but didn't go anywhere in the Senate. Hopefully with the large tax reform measure that passed last year, the Senate will vote on this joint resolution. This would be an amendment to the state constitution that would require a 60% affirmative vote from the electorate in the November 2008 general elections. If passed, the bill would take effect for the 2010 tax year.

The idea behind the bill has been credited to Michael Waldrop, a former Army Reserve Infantry Captain. Michael had been lobbying lawmakers in Tallahassee for tax relief for veterans, while he was stationed in Afghanistan. Waldrop was and adviser to the Afghan army, and is a recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

The related bill in the Florida Senate is SJR 2384; it has been introduced, but has not yet had a committee hearing. You can contact your Florida State Senator and ask them to support this bill. You can find your State Senator, by going to the Florida State Senate website and entering your nine digit zip code.

I think this is a really small measure that we, the residents of Florida, could adopt. We all know that are taxes are too high, and we should all get more tax relief, but I think for those men and women doing their difficult and dangerous jobs overseas this is the least we can do.