[alexander59]

I am confused, another mess to try and figure out, its not going to help me at all. Why not get rid of property taxes and raise the sales tax so all people pay thier share.
We thought we would save some money on insurance but we got screwed on that one too. Bunch of gobbley ****.
Are these people nuts up there?
**** means g o o k why the edit?

[Nirvana-Guy]

Originally Posted by Arrgh

Nirvana-Guy,

GREAT post! I just called both of my Reps' about this and sounded off about the taxes. I also mentioned that I wiiukd be watching how they vote and if they do not vote for SUBSTANTIAL reductions, I will vote for whoever is running against them. As an interesting sidebar, members in the US congress use a simple formula to guage how hot a topic is. They figure that for every letter/email/call they get there are another 1,000 voters who feel the same way.

Once again EXCELLENT post.

Thanks!

My local state Rep (Lake Mary) is voting FOR lowering the taxes. I am not sure about the state Senator in my district (no time to call or look him/her up yet).

I call my State Rep (in the Federal level) and he is AWESOME (John Mica). I am serious, I have the best state rep in the US Congress.

[pianogal]

Originally Posted by Nirvana-Guy

The FL House has passed a MUCH better plan!

The FL Senate (just as the corrupted US Senate) passed a crappy plan.

People, CALL YOUR FL STATE SENATORS AND DEMAND (DO NOT ASK) FOR THEM TO ENDORSE THE FL HOUSE PLAN TO ELIMINATE THE PROPERTY TAXES!! TELL THEM YOU ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THAN A COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF PROPERTY TAXES FOR HOMES VALUED LES STHAN $300,000!

Here is how you find their #s (using your zip code):

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/i...TOKEN=19965904

Thank you, Nirvana....you gave us a helpful post. I even had to take you off ignore to get it! LOL

I've done my part and called my senator! Let's do this!!

[seeriously]

We don't need an escalating property tax that would increase 10% a year after selling and buying a home in Florida. There's enough things going up every year with inflation!

What happened to 0 property tax and increased sales tax? How about 0 property tax for homes appraised at $500,000 or less and let the more expensive homes carry the burden of property tax on appraisal amount over $500,000.

[SunshineState]

I just got back from Tallahassee and from what I have been told there will be nothing done this session for the property taxes. There is rumor that after session they may call a special session for property taxes like they did for the insurance. There are too many people/Counties lobbying against any decrease in property taxes. The Governor thought he did a great thing by allowing individual counties to offer up to a 50k homestead, I can't wait to see how many actually do it. Not many I presume.

[Donna-50]

Originally Posted by SunshineState

I just got back from Tallahassee and from what I have been told there will be nothing done this session for the property taxes. There is rumor that after session they may call a special session for property taxes like they did for the insurance. There are too many people/Counties lobbying against any decrease in property taxes. The Governor thought he did a great thing by allowing individual counties to offer up to a 50k homestead, I can't wait to see how many actually do it. Not many I presume.

So in other words, they won't be doing anything until election time. I guess it will be just like HOI.

[tallrick]

I heard there was a busload of people from Miami planning a demonstration in Tallahassee. Anyone know about this so I can join in?

[Donna-50]

Originally Posted by tallrick

I heard there was a busload of people from Miami planning a demonstration in Tallahassee. Anyone know about this so I can join in?

There is another thread on that with bus info.

[tallrick]

It's just getting hard and harder for me to write to "The Honarable".......SOB.

[pslOldTimer]

The only thing I know for sure is that when they start to meddle with the natural process of taxing homes to provide services, they only make it worse.

The Save Our Homes changes started the meddling and brought us to where we are now, because of the law of unintended consequences. Now, they have dug themselves into a hole where the only way they can see to get out is to dig the hole deeper. What they are proposing just meddles with things even more, and will make the situation even worse in ways we cannot see yet. Actually, when I think about it, the first instance of meddling was the Homestead exemption, itself.

Every resident of every community requires services from the management of that community. Everything including police and fire protection, education, public works, utility services, parks and recreation, libraries, beautification, transportation, zoning, building inspections, licensing, community standards, code enforcement, animal control, and many more are services that are needed by everyone, or wanted by a large enough majority to be sure they are provided. These services are provided to residents, and it is up to the residents to pay for them in a fair and equitable manner.

Over time, it has been determined that the fairest eay to pay for these services is a tax on property. This tax is paid directly by homeowners and indirectly by renters because the landlords pay the tax and pass it on to the tenants as part of the rent (because the Homestead exemption does not apply to rental property, tenants actually pay more, because the landlords pay more).

Personally, I think there should be a basic, minimum level tax that is paid by everyone, regardless of the value of their property. Everyone enjoys the services provided, and everyone should have to pay an equal amount. Then, it might be fair to assess homeowners with larger or more valuable homes a progressively higher amount of property tax based on a theory that they might be receiving a higher level of service, although I'm hard-pressed to give examples of what those higher services might be. It might be more honest to just admit that we expect people with more resources to pay a greater share -- but everyone should have to pay something.

That would remove a lot of the inequity in the tax system as it now stands. By the way, any mention of sales tax is out of place -- there is no connection between people's purchasing habits and the services provided to residents.

The Save Our Homes deal was largely driven by a naive hope that if the amount of taxes that could be collected is reduced, it would force the communities to reduce their spending. What actually happened was that communities figured out a different way to get the revenues they need. This talk of "$11 Billion in savings" or whatever the number is based on a similar, naive hope. The simple fact is that if the residents are going to save $11 Billion, then the communities either have to find a different source for the $11 Billion, or else cut services. Many communities have already begun to predict how they will have to reduce those services -- police forces will be cut, miles patrolled will be reduced, equipment will be allowed to age further and get less maintenance, roads will be allowed to deteriorate, parks will be closed, and on and on.

There is a common misconception that all we have to do is cut waste and we can reduce spending enough to cut taxes. The simple fact is that waste is really just a small part of the expenditures, and one man's waste is another man's treasure. I have heard people say they think it's a waste to plant flowers in medians. I think it's a positive benefit for the community, and it probably costs about .00005% of the budget. Multiply that example by dozens, and the issues become apparent.

The ONLY thing that is fair is for each resident to pay their fair share, and if they don't like the budget, to use their power of the vote to change the leaders. Everything else is meddling and will just cause more problems in the future.

By the way, let me add that everything they are proposing is a benefit to me -- if I were selfish, I'd just keep my mouth shut and let them pass it all -- I'd make out like gang busters. But, I would NOT be a good citizen.