New property tax proposal? (appraiser, budget, condo)

[dudeman135]

I personally favor the new amendment and will be voting yes. Here's some information obviously biased towards voting yes, but it is where I got my info and there are some good examples on the link I included at the bottom.

Florida Amendment 1 Info (broken link)

I do like the doubling of the homestead exemption, but the main reason is for the portability. The portability is retroactive to anyone who purchased a home during 2007. That would be a big benefit to us and to anyone that purchased a home prior to the recent run-ups in price, say 2003 or before, and wanted to purchase a new home. Let me explain using my specific situation and general ball park figures.

We moved to Jacksonville in 2003 and purchased a home. Let's say the house cost 160,000. Then in October of 07 we sold our house for 230,000 and moved to St Johns County and purchased a home for say 250,000. The new house is actually assessed for more than we purchased it for, say 260,000.

Without amendment 1 my taxes this year would be based on 260,000-25,000 homestead=235,000 x .0145855 (st johns county mileage rate) = $3425 approx

The way the portability works is that the market value of the house that you sell (selling price) - the assessed value = portability amount. In the case above, we sold the house for 230,000 and the assessed value was 160,000 so the portability amount is 70,000 that can be carried forward to the new house.

Under the new rules, homestead exemption would be 50,000 plus we would be able to subtract the 70,000 due to the portability rule. So that would be: 260,000 assessed value on new house - 50,000 homestead - 70,000 portability = 140,000 x .0145855 = $2040

So for me personally, it would be a savings of about $1400. Not only for year one, but for each year after that as well. So that is definitely a substantial benefit to me and anyone in a similar situation that has been in a house for a few years and wants to move to another home and not be hit with a large tax increase.

Here's some other similar scenarios to help explain as well:

Other examples (broken link)

Hope that helps!

[liedj]

There are presently two class action lawsuits making there way through the courts concerning the unfairness of Fla. property taxes. If you listen to Fla. pols. they say the suits have no chance. But experts outside the state say they very well could succeed. If the fairness issue is not addressed now, the cost could be unbelievable.
In my neighborhood in Jax. all the homes were built at the same time so the taxes are fair. In So.Fla.I own a non-homesteaded condo where the taxes for my homesteaded neighbor is $2200. less. If you look at all the oceanfront mansions it's amazing that no one lives in them yet they are mostly homesteaded. I have been told I should just homestead it because the fine is less than the savings and you can count on one hand the the number of people who have been cought. I won't.

[R1v3rRat]

My wife and I are about to start construction on a new home in NEFL. We are moving from SC. If this passes, my homestead exemption will go from $25K to $50K? Is this correct?

RR

[apvbguy]

Originally Posted by R1v3rRat

My wife and I are about to start construction on a new home in NEFL. We are moving from SC. If this passes, my homestead exemption will go from $25K to $50K? Is this correct?

RR

yes, that is the proposal

[wacahootaman]

"My wife and I are about to start construction on a new home in NEFL. We are moving from SC. If this passes, my homestead exemption will go from $25K to $50K? Is this correct?

RR"

Not exactly,

The second 25k of the homestead exemption would only exempt you from the non school taxes in your tax bill.

The bottom line is that you would save only about 200 bucks from this additional homestead exemption.

The only people who benifit big time are the long term homeowners who are are already protected by the SOH law with much lower property taxes. If they get portability they most likely will be opposed to all future real tax reform.

This portability clause is a clever tactic by the tax and spend politicians to split the taxpayers into two opposed groups and thus thwart any true property tax reform.

These 200 dollar savings are table crumbs. The act is a sham. It is a poison pill.

If it passes, real, fair, tax relief will be dead in the water for years.

[maine4.us]

The problem with the amendment as it will be voted on is that the portability part of it will certainly face a court challenge. The legislature knew this in advance but still proposed this legislation. If it passes, you can bet the developers will challenge this. The inequity of taxes will only become worse. Example: Two families buy homes in a new development. Let's say the houses are 235K. One family moved here from Ohio, and another family moved from another part of town. The local family owned their previous house for 20 years. The Ohio family will be paying taxes on 185K, the value of their home less the 50K homestead exemption. The local family bought their house in 1987 for 74K. Their evaluation will be based on the cap of 3% increase for 20 years. That is 60% increase. Doing rough math here, their taxes will be based on 139K. Tell me how that is going to go over with the developers. It will go directly to the attorneys who will take this legislation all the way to the supreme court. The 3% cap will give way to a 10% cap. So, if the legislation is declared unconstitutional, we will have no homestead exemption in place, and no cap in place. It is a real legal mess. If they had left out the portability issue, the law would probably have been okay. There is no way that 2 houses next door to each other can have their property evaluation 46K apart. The difference between them will grow even more in years to come. The evaluations would change even more as each year passed. Add 10% to the evalutions, and the difference between them increases even more. It is good idea, but the way they are going about it will be a headache for years to come.

[DanBev]

The Lake City Reporter newspaper has a report by Columbia County appraiser which has a fair example on this issue.For me trying to sell might make it easier to sell.Gives new buyer some help in tax situation.

[R1v3rRat]

Thanks for the response.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by wacahootaman

"My wife and I are about to start construction on a new home in NEFL. We are moving from SC. If this passes, my homestead exemption will go from $25K to $50K? Is this correct?

RR"

Not exactly,

The second 25k of the homestead exemption would only exempt you from the non school taxes in your tax bill.

The bottom line is that you would save only about 200 bucks from this additional homestead exemption.

The only people who benifit big time are the long term homeowners who are are already protected by the SOH law with much lower property taxes. If they get portability they most likely will be opposed to all future real tax reform.

This portability clause is a clever tactic by the tax and spend politicians to split the taxpayers into two opposed groups and thus thwart any true property tax reform.

These 200 dollar savings are table crumbs. The act is a sham. It is a poison pill.

If it passes, real, fair, tax relief will be dead in the water for years.

I think that last line is especially true.

[Since 1972]

The more we give government, the more they waste.