[gypsychic]

I agree with everything PsOldTimer said!!!

[Shores9]

I’ve been following the news and looking for details or any tidbit of information on the net. As best as I can tell the Senate wants to roll back taxes to one of the highest years on record 2005. Gee that mighty grand of them. They say they want to be fair and they are unwilling to raise taxes.

Can someone answer this? If government’s [local and otherwise] revenue and spending increased in most cases over 70%+ between 2001 -2005 and the cost of living only increased about 15%, the increases in wages were marginally higher [maybe] and you factored a 3% a year budget increase for population growth which also BTW brings additional revenues WHY HAS OUR GOVERNMENT SPENT MORE THAN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF AROUND 30-30% in 05 than it did in 01. Such spending is an unnecessary tax burden. Taxes should have been lowered and returned to the state’s tax payers.

If you hear that the senate is not in favor of raising any tax including the sales tax to offset school or property taxes because they think it unfair to raise taxes THAT’S TOTAL BS. If they don’t roll SPENDING and taxes to a level more in line with normal growth patterns then by default THEY ARE SUPPORTING TAX INCREASES. Spending more than need be is by any definition an additional tax

I have been writing my representatives and now its time to notch it up. Turn the heat to HIGH!!!

I will be very pointed in saying that I am not only writing to them but I am coping my letters to every related internet post and blog on the net. And I will remind them that I will also be there not only to cast my vote [either in favor or against as the case may be] but I will make every effort to use today’s technology to make sure I can spread the word as far and wide as I can so that others don’t forget.

PS I never thought I’d say this and some may relish my current discomfort with the state of affairs but for the first time I must say that it is entirely prudent to consider an exit plan for leaving Florida

[pslOldTimer]

Shores9, your question is legitimate, but I'm not certain you have framed it entirely correct.

Remember, due to the Save Our Homes act, most people between 2001 and 2005 were capped at a 3% increase in assessment. At the same time, fuel costs tripled, cement and copper rose to all time highs, and most other costs related to government services increased much more than personal inflation. Also, most communities in Florida faced dramatic influxes of new residents needing an immediate increase in facilities that won't be amortized for many years by normal taxes. Some communities have impact fees on new construction to handle a part of that, but it doesn't always cover.

So, someone had to make up the difference. Since the existing residents were capped, it fell upon new buyers, landlords and commercial properties to make up the difference -- and their taxes went up dramatically higher in order to make up the shortfall from the residences that were capped.

Save Our Homes is the worst piece of legislation that has ever been passed in Florida.

[SunshineState]

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?

Yes tallrick,
Here is all the information on it. If I can help you in any other way just let me know.

Join Us to protect your homes!

FIA will be holding a protest rally to inform the public about proposed insurance legislation that is critical to further reduce the rates of insurance premiums and protect the discounts already given.

FIA believes that Rep.Ron Reagan, Chairman of the House Insurance Committee recently appointed by House Speaker Marco Rubio is stalling the progress of critical legislation by refusing to hear it in his committee. FIA believes that these tactics of bill assassination in committee are unacceptable and avoids transparency of the legislative process.

We want to see how our legislators vote!

There has never been a bigger need to raise our voices in defense of our property!

FIA is committed to keep Floridians informed of the critical issues that directly affect their most valuable possession: their property.

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Date: Saturday, March 24, 2007

Place: Jorge Mas Canosa Sweetwater Youth Center

250 SW 114 Avenue,

City of Sweetwater, FL

Phone: (305) 412-3494

[Shores9]

Unfortunately however you try and frame this argument Florida does not have more than a handful of industries that will endure the hard times that lay ahead. Tourism is the old standby and agriculture is fading fast. In the past several years Florida has done a traffic job at attracting new industries in tech, medical, bio tech, finance, international trade. But as fast as these industries have come they can go. We are at the tipping point and lack of action now will set this state back 20 years or more.

What has kept Florida flush is the ever increasing numbers of people migrating here every year. This is now changing. The numbers from the census bureau still show an increase but at significantly lower levels. Student school population has dropped dramatically and in the last year there has only been a 500 seat net increase in students coming to FL. Many counties are reporting a drop in student population

The state needs to attract new families and residents to survive. You can blame us greedy realtors and investors; you can blame those terribly nasty banks and mortgage brokers but right up there at the top of the list is the addicted politician. Power is their high and money is their drug.

Florida will always be a beautiful place - but the day will come when more people see it from 30,000 ft as they fly to Mexico, the Caribbean or parts of Central America .

If they don’t fix the tax issue now we will not be like New York or California that is able to withstand the next recession [something I believe will happen in the next 3 years] And if we get plastered with a nasty hurricane season or two we will be more like Louisiana. The up side here is that many of you on this board will get your wish. CHEAP HOUSING. But you’ll be back at the giant lizard road side stand selling sea shells.

Personally NC SC TN or GA won’t be so bad. I could buy cash – insure for cheap – and have low taxes. With the money I save I’ll spend 4-6 weeks in Panama Costa Rica or Mexico. Even on vacation it’ll be cheaper than going to FLA and just as nice.

[Shores9]

PS whenever that day comes and wherever I land I'll make it my life’s mission to alert anyone and everyone of those [politicians] who failed to do the right thing today

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by Shores9

Unfortunately however you try and frame this argument Florida does not have more than a handful of industries that will endure the hard times that lay ahead. Tourism is the old standby and agriculture is fading fast. In the past several years Florida has done a traffic job at attracting new industries in tech, medical, bio tech, finance, international trade. But as fast as these industries have come they can go. We are at the tipping point and lack of action now will set this state back 20 years or more.

What has kept Florida flush is the ever increasing numbers of people migrating here every year. This is now changing. The numbers from the census bureau still show an increase but at significantly lower levels. Student school population has dropped dramatically and in the last year there has only been a 500 seat net increase in students coming to FL. Many counties are reporting a drop in student population

The state needs to attract new families and residents to survive. You can blame us greedy realtors and investors; you can blame those terribly nasty banks and mortgage brokers but right up there at the top of the list is the addicted politician. Power is their high and money is their drug.

Florida will always be a beautiful place - but the day will come when more people see it from 30,000 ft as they fly to Mexico, the Caribbean or parts of Central America .

If they don’t fix the tax issue now we will not be like New York or California that is able to withstand the next recession [something I believe will happen in the next 3 years] And if we get plastered with a nasty hurricane season or two we will be more like Louisiana. The up side here is that many of you on this board will get your wish. CHEAP HOUSING. But you’ll be back at the giant lizard road side stand selling sea shells.

Personally NC SC TN or GA won’t be so bad. I could buy cash – insure for cheap – and have low taxes. With the money I save I’ll spend 4-6 weeks in Panama Costa Rica or Mexico. Even on vacation it’ll be cheaper than going to FLA and just as nice.

This is what I try to tell people, but they think that Florida can never fail. People think that money will continue to flor through Florida for an eternity. They forget that we can't even produce our own energy, have no mineral deposits, and have some of the highest demands of any state. The hurricanes have scared businesses as well. Add the sky high property taxes and increasing restrictions, and good bye high quality business. What will support all the overpriced homes? Sunshine? Get real people!

Good point, if housing gets cheap it will take less $$$$ to survive. I can make it, but who will be able to live with less? Good point about Lousiana. A friend of mine lives there and he tells me how cheap it is....but there are no jobs. Without the Latin American speculation, Miami would be affordable. As for the rest of Florida, it will be interesting to see if it returns to former levels of pricing.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by pianogal

I don't see how that's going to help those of us who just moved. Can someone enlighten me? I moved from a home in Winter Park paying 1300.00 a year to a newly built home in Orlando and now I pay almost 5K a year. Is there going to be anything in there to help me...or am I just out of luck?

Help? From government? Sure, they'll help. They'll help us all have to work another decade or more of our lives to support the welfare and warfare state.

Real help.

[randian]

We wouldn't even have a problem if Florida's governments weren't in the top 5 in the nation in budget increases over the last 5 years. As for waste, there is lots of waste to get rid of.

1) Have you seen the benefits packages government workers get? It's obscene.
2) Government wages exceed private sector wages. So much for the "earn less, get security" tradeoff that was the traditional lure for government employees.
3) If there's a choice between flowers in the median and police, there's no doubt what should happen: dump the flowers. Their percentage of the budget is irrelevant.
4) Quite frankly, the purported cuts are scare tactics. The government will cut police and fire service, rather than its fat and happy management, in order to coerce you into backing down. Don't be taken in by it.
5) California governments made the same whining when Proposition 13 passed. Nothing happened, nobody got fired, government shrunk not one iota, and as you can tell from recent national news California continues to be (in budgetary terms) where our politicians long to be.
6) Capping increases in property tax revenue is a sham, designed to mislead you into thinking government, and its associated tax burden, will shrink. Without caps on all revenue, wherever derived, government will continue to grow. I think just about every county in the state has room under the 1.5% cap on local-option sales taxes. Expect them to max out sales taxes if this property tax amendment passes. Also expect every "fee" under the sun to suffer very large increases, as they did in California.
7) For a long time Florida had a tradition of low taxes and low tax increases, for both businesses and people. That's why so many people want to live here, and why taxfoundation.org ranks Florida the #5 state in the nation in its tax survey. We need to get back to that and throw out the bums who have been corrupted by all the cash flowing into government coffers.
8) There is an alternative out there, but most of the politicians don't want to talk about it and neither does the media: The 1.35% tax amendment. It caps property taxes at 1.35% of value. Simple. Straightforward. Nothing hidden. Sadly, not sufficient given (6), but IMO a very necessary part of real tax reduction.

[MrTudo]

Excellent post Randian IMO

It never does shrink. Sometimes they claim to have done so when in fact they may have only obfuscated the reality of what happens and at best , temporarily slow the percentage increases of waste and comradeship. The most devious part IMO is that certain "leaders" undfer the guise of cutting taxes, spending etc have also contracted for even larger spending which will guarantee higher taxes not only in the near future, but for generations to come. Coupled with an almost bizarre monitary policy on the part of Washington giving us the cost of living increases that everyone in all economic situations must endure and it's a recipe for huge increases in the costs of living and more economic erosion ( at best ) of the overall state of middle class for the forseeable future.

Certainly there are voices out there calling it for what it is , but the media is a seemingly willing participant in that obfuscation of the truth.

Shores9, the "ex"patriot tax will see to it that the numbers going South, East, West, even North, etc are...er...handled.