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Florida Judge pulls Amendment 5 off the November ballot

One again the Florida Association of Realtors has backed a losing horse - with one heck of a lot of money raised by Florida Realtors themselves, but with NO QUESTION being asked of the Realtors before the money was spent!

Amendment Five was to appear on the Ballot in Florida in November and was in simplistic terms, a tax swap - property tax to be replaced by sales tax. It was placed on the ballot by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission - a body which meets just once every 20 years!

Anyway, "The court finds that the ballot title and summary provided in the proposition for Amendment 5 fail to fairly inform the voter, in a clear and unambiguous language, of the chief purposes of the amendment and the language of the title and summary, as written, is misleading in the foregoing respects," U.S. Circuit Court Judge John C. Cooper wrote in his opinion.

And now once again Florida's property tax system is a complete mess. In January Amendment One was passed (with at least $1m of support from the Florida Association of Realtors). Taxes were supposed to come down. Mine just went UP!

Watch this space for more information as the situation unfolds. The appeal process has already begun.

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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 www.simonconway.net or www.move2orlando.net

Posted by Simon Conway on 08/15/2008 01:51 PM

Comments (7)

propert tax, property tax amendment, simon conway selling homes in orlando and windermere

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7 Comments on Florida Judge pulls Amendment 5 off the November ballot

AUG

2008

Simon,

Here is Tennessee we get to vote to retain or get rid of the judges. I just did that in a primary last week.

Do you get that opportunity and if so maybe time for that judge to find another job!

Congratulations this post is now featured in the Silent Majority Group of Active Rain.

Simon - must have been the same folks who worked on the latest mortgage bailout bill.

Mike 1 - thanks for the feature

Mike 2 - it truly is a mess!

Our legislative committee got to meet with Attorney General Bill McCollum today. He says that this case has already been sent up for appeal and he fully expects it to be re-instated onto the ballot.

I seriously doubt it Rob. There was so much compromise to get SOMETHING on the ballot that the language is incredibly confusing.

AUG

2008

Yes, this was a surprising move. Interesting ot see if they can salvage it. I have to acknowledge that I do not know the details. I was a bit surprised that business groups oppose it.

AUG

2008

Another botched job and waste of money spent on what should be a real winner of an Amendment

I'm with Simon.. I'd be a bit surprised if it get's overturned.

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