[ron rivera]

home owner, would you rather pay $3,5,8,10,15,20,25,30,000 a year property tax or $303 more a year sales tax.
renter, would you rather pay $3,5,8,10,15,20,25,30,000 a year passed on property tax or $303 more a year sales tax.
this is a no brainer. the republican proposal is to eliminate the property tax completely on your personal residence & substitute it with a 2.5% additional sales tax. right now taxes are concentrated on a small group of people, the home owner. that's why property taxes are extremely high for home owners. the additional 2.5% sales tax will spread out the tax burden to everybody, not concentrating it on home owners. non residence, non homestead real estate will be reduced to 2000-2001 levels.
the advantages of this proposal are enormous. your personal home will no longer be taxed, more people can afford a home, real estate will boom, people will improve & expand their homes creating jobs, you can live in the home of your choice, people will spend their saved property tax in the economy creating jobs & businesses. this is over 10 billion dollars injected into the economy. you have more money to pay your home owners insurance.
this will attract investors & businesses. call, write or email your representative. tell them you want this now.

[gypsychic]

Believe it or not, not all of us want this. What will this do to the various county services? I have read that many counties will have to cut back on police, firemen, teachers, etc. Also what about our infrastructure?

I think the best solution is cutting back the taxes some and raising the sales tax some - a little bit of both. I really doubt that they would totally do away with the property taxes. Florida is lacking too many services as it is, they can't afford to lose this base. We will pay one way or another.

[HIF]

Sales tax is regressive. It hurts lower income families more than others, as a higher percentage of their income goes to paying sales tax.

Eliminating property taxes would shift the burden, not just to tourists, but to all families in the state.

The legislature just needs to bite the bullet and eliminate sales tax loopholes. The only rhyme or reason for most of them is that the groups represented hired the best lobbyists that money could buy.

WHAT SALES TAX BREAKS ARE WORTH
State revenue experts say the elimination of Florida's tax exemptions for professional services would generate more than $20-billion a year. Here are a few of the biggest, or best-known, exemptions and how much money each would generate annually:

Exemption Amount (in millions)

Value of trade-ins and discounts 594.8

Legal services for profit 588.8 BIG, BIG LOBBY IN TALLY

Charter fishing boats 54.6 - Joe Lunchbucket pays taxes on his fishing boat, but if someone buys one to make a profit....no tax.

Bottled water 42.4 - If someone can pay a buck for 8 oz. of water, the sales tax won't kill 'em (I'm in this group)

Newspaper and magazine inserts 41.9 -they get a tax exemption for all that crap that they stick in our newspaper!!! That is adding insult to injury!

Feed for livestock, poultry and ostriches 22.5 - OSTRICHES!!!! While doggies get taxed.

Motion picture video equipment 4.9 - because they make so little in this industry?!

College and high school stadium skyboxes 0.7 - me and my kids going to the game- taxed

Source: 2005 Florida Tax Handbook (www.state.fl.us/edr/reports/taxhandbook2005)

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Believe it or not, not all of us want this. What will this do to the various county services? I have read that many counties will have to cut back on police, firemen, teachers, etc. Also what about our infrastructure?

I think the best solution is cutting back the taxes some and raising the sales tax some - a little bit of both. I really doubt that they would totally do away with the property taxes. Florida is lacking too many services as it is, they can't afford to lose this base. We will pay one way or another.

Let's hope so! The government needs to tighten it's belt just like we do. A lot of the money spent is wasted, I bet 50%! Miami-Dade county is one of the worst I have seen in Florida.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by hereinfla

Sales tax is regressive. It hurts lower income families more than others, as a higher percentage of their income goes to paying sales tax.

Eliminating property taxes would shift the burden, not just to tourists, but to all families in the state.

The legislature just needs to bite the bullet and eliminate sales tax loopholes. The only rhyme or reason for most of them is that the groups represented hired the best lobbyists that money could buy.

WHAT SALES TAX BREAKS ARE WORTH
State revenue experts say the elimination of Florida's tax exemptions for professional services would generate more than $20-billion a year. Here are a few of the biggest, or best-known, exemptions and how much money each would generate annually:

Exemption Amount (in millions)

Value of trade-ins and discounts 594.8

Legal services for profit 588.8 BIG, BIG LOBBY IN TALLY

Charter fishing boats 54.6 - Joe Lunchbucket pays taxes on his fishing boat, but if someone buys one to make a profit....no tax.

Bottled water 42.4 - If someone can pay a buck for 8 oz. of water, the sales tax won't kill 'em (I'm in this group)

Newspaper and magazine inserts 41.9 -they get a tax exemption for all that crap that they stick in our newspaper!!! That is adding insult to injury!

Feed for livestock, poultry and ostriches 22.5 - OSTRICHES!!!! While doggies get taxed.

Motion picture video equipment 4.9 - because they make so little in this industry?!

College and high school stadium skyboxes 0.7 - me and my kids going to the game- taxed

Source: 2005 Florida Tax Handbook (www.state.fl.us/edr/reports/taxhandbook2005)

Isn't all sales tax deductable?

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/...165636,00.html

[HIF]

Originally Posted by macguy

Isn't all sales tax deductable?

Yes, good point. So is property tax.

[in2dadark]

The current Gov. wants this because it's keep Florida competitive with other states vying for wealthier residents. And it would help keep the state more red than blue thereby keeping those electoral votes in the repulican column..

Doesn't help me much ..I'd save 1100 a year in prop. taxes. The rich people at the beach would save 10k plus or minus. But I think on the whole it'd be good for resale values when competing for people who are considering other states as well.

[pslOldTimer]

Shifting to sales tax will cost everyone more money, plus make it much more likely that politicians will continue to increase it. Here, this thread is started by someone trying to say that a mere 2.5% increase will not hurt. Can't you just hear the politicians say, "...just another 1/2%..." and another -- and another.