[John1960]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The first half of what is billed as the biggest tax cut in Florida's history became law Thursday with Gov. Charlie Crist's signature, but taxpayers may be disappointed that the average homeowner will save less than $200 a year.

While yearly property tax bills have risen by thousands of dollars for homeowners in areas where real estate values have skyrocketed in recent years, the average cut for a primary homeowner under the new law is estimated to be only about $174, or 7 percent, in the first year.

"An average of $175 a year is a joke," said Tampa businessman Rene Otero, who has a home in Odessa. "Break it down, that's $14 a month, and $14 a month is practically unnoticeable."

TBO.com - News From The Associated Press (broken link)

[wacahootaman]

RE: Crist signs first part of historic property tax-cut legislation | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, Fla.

This is all smoke and mirrors with very little true property tax relief.

First, property tax assessments have been frozen at their peak values of the housing bubble, at Jan 1, 2006 levels! With property values now falling like a stone your property tax assessments wont fall with them but are frozen at historic highs.

Many Floridians have seen their property taxes soar 300 percent or more in the housing bubble and the largest tax cuts by the counties will be only 9 percent!

Secondly, the super homestead exemption of 150k will never fly. It will be disastereous for the poorer counties where most property assessments are less than 150k thus putting most of the tax base off the tax rolls. The obvious solution is to gradually blend in this 150k exemption into the tax assessment so that the poorer counties dont get cut off completely.

This was left out from the package because this tax sham is set up to fail.

Plus the scare tactics of the govt propaganda machine that society will collapse if these cuts are enacted will work especially with those already protected by SOH who wont want to risk change(even though they can keep their SOH protection) so it will never get the votes to pass.

Finally, the fact that the counties can override the cuts if they want to makes this so called tax cuts a complete and total sham.

The only way to get true tax reform is for the people to put in their own constitutional admendment with no override provisions.

TAX REVOLT! TAX REVOLT

Throw out your corrupt, tax and spend local officials and replace them with true public servants who put the interest of the people before their personal paychecks!

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by wacahootaman

RE: Crist signs first part of historic property tax-cut legislation | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, Fla.

This is all smoke and mirrors with very little true property tax relief.

First, property tax assessments have been frozen at their peak values of the housing bubble, at Jan 1, 2006 levels! With property values now falling like a stone your property tax assessments wont fall with them but are frozen at historic highs.

Many Floridians have seen their property taxes soar 300 percent or more in the housing bubble and the largest tax cuts by the counties will be only 9 percent!

Secondly, the super homestead exemption of 150k will never fly. It will be disastereous for the poorer counties where most property assessments are less than 150k thus putting most of the tax base off the tax rolls. The obvious solution is to gradually blend in this 150k exemption into the tax assessment so that the poorer counties dont get cut off completely.

This was left out from the package because this tax sham is set up to fail.

Plus the scare tactics of the govt propaganda machine that society will collapse if these cuts are enacted will work especially with those already protected by SOH who wont want to risk change(even though they can keep their SOH protection) so it will never get the votes to pass.

Finally, the fact that the counties can override the cuts if they want to makes this so called tax cuts a complete and total sham.

The only way to get true tax reform is for the people to put in their own constitutional admendment with no override provisions.

TAX REVOLT! TAX REVOLT

Throw out your corrupt, tax and spend local officials and replace them with true public servants who put the interest of the people before their personal paychecks!

wacahootaman - you are so right on with your post. I don't know how everyone doesn't see through this sham. I am truly disgusted with Crist about now. I have nothing else I can add, because you said it all!

[tallrick]

They are going to be sorry, Florida is in deep trouble, and when the initiative fails there will be a flood of properties on the market and a lack of interest in buying anything. Expect more Floridians to leave the state.

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by wacahootaman

RE: Crist signs first part of historic property tax-cut legislation | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, Fla.

This is all smoke and mirrors with very little true property tax relief.

First, property tax assessments have been frozen at their peak values of the housing bubble, at Jan 1, 2006 levels! With property values now falling like a stone your property tax assessments wont fall with them but are frozen at historic highs.

Many Floridians have seen their property taxes soar 300 percent or more in the housing bubble and the largest tax cuts by the counties will be only 9 percent!

Secondly, the super homestead exemption of 150k will never fly. It will be disastereous for the poorer counties where most property assessments are less than 150k thus putting most of the tax base off the tax rolls. The obvious solution is to gradually blend in this 150k exemption into the tax assessment so that the poorer counties dont get cut off completely.

This was left out from the package because this tax sham is set up to fail.

Plus the scare tactics of the govt propaganda machine that society will collapse if these cuts are enacted will work especially with those already protected by SOH who wont want to risk change(even though they can keep their SOH protection) so it will never get the votes to pass.

Finally, the fact that the counties can override the cuts if they want to makes this so called tax cuts a complete and total sham.

The only way to get true tax reform is for the people to put in their own constitutional admendment with no override provisions.

TAX REVOLT! TAX REVOLT

Throw out your corrupt, tax and spend local officials and replace them with true public servants who put the interest of the people before their personal paychecks!

You are soooooo right. taxes go up 300% and they give us 9%. What an insult. Read these.........

Property Tax Reform Now

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article...NESS/706200659
Lavish Pensions Decreed By State Add Galling Irony To Tax Breaks
Cities pay big bucks for top managers - 06/10/2007 - MiamiHerald.com (broken link)

http://www.fhba.com/docs/FL%20Counti...20Playbook.pdf

[Suncoaster]

Originally Posted by tallrick

They are going to be sorry, Florida is in deep trouble, and when the initiative fails there will be a flood of properties on the market and a lack of interest in buying anything. Expect more Floridians to leave the state.

Where I work, I see a steady progression of young people and workers.... moving out! The favored destinations are GA, NC and TN.

With the double-whammy of property taxes and HOI, it's like a 2nd mortgage or worse. Families can't hack it - and away they go. Businesses are shuttering too.

This is starting to get scary: I know I've griped about traffic like everyone else, but these days it seems that our area has less traffic, not more. Sure we have rush hour - but it's not as heavy as in, say, the late 90's.

Wacahootaman wrote:

The only way to get true tax reform is for the people to put in their own constitutional admendment with no override provisions.

While it sounds like a good solution, the problem is that there's something in the State Constitution that the Legislature cannot dictate what the municipalities can levy. This could even spell trouble for the property tax legislation they're trying to get on the ballot. This needs to be looked into. If the citizens (as opposed to the legislature) want tax caps, there should be some means of passing it.

But we do need some property tax relief - and when the cities try to scare citizens by threatening to cut police and firefighters - we need to ask them why they don't instead cut the tax giveaways to sports teams and so forth (why am I paying for someone else's entertainment?????) and junkets, and CERTAINLY the type of Code Enforcement where you have city workers citing people for having bare lawns during a drought! And yes, they actually did.

[Audacious]

From the Wall Street Journal

"Overall, though, the property-tax revenue of Florida's city and county governments has been rising at a rate much faster than the state's population, a trend that critics see as a sign of a bloated bureaucracy. In 2006, the state collected $30.5 billion in property taxes, almost double the level of 2000. Over the same period, the state's population grew by about 13%.

"It's as much a spending problem as it is a property-tax problem," said Dominic Calabro, president of Florida TaxWatch, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Tallahassee. "The idea is to put local governments on a healthy diet, so they can grow, but grow along with the economy."


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[RepoMan]

Property-tax problem, Charlie Crist's signature and the paper he wrote it on isn't worth checking my oil with it..

I was going to mention something else but, you get the picture?

I have nothing else I can add, because you all said it!