[1insider]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

I was asking the OP, who asked for opinions in the first place. I'm noticing a trend here - people starting threads asking for opinions, but not offering their own. It's kind of creepy.

What do you think?

[Lillie767]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

What do YOU think about it?

I think it sucks.

[formerlynorthofnowhere]

Originally Posted by Racer46

Great law and many States have such, even CA, though CA has no Homestead exemptions.

Yes I so enjoy paying 4 times as much property tax annually than my neighbors do for the same housing.

[mrviking]

It sucks till it doesn't. New arrivals complain at first, then after a few years living in paradise, suddenly its not so bad.

[beach43ofus]

"If they are from outside Florida, there is no portability to mitigate the increase in taxes of which many are unaware."


Realtors do a great job of making buyers aware that the property tax they see in the past records is NOT what they should expect to pay.

If buyers are still somehow unaware, that is on them. When you are making a major purchase, its up to buyers to do their homework, & understand all the costs of what they are getting themselves into.

[ndcairngorm]

I think the title of the thread is misleading. The law doesn't "produce" these rates; they are set by municipalities from ages back. The law prevents new appraisals from pricing long-term residents out of their houses, which if it were allowed would start a never-ending spiral of buying and selling in order to pay the expenses of living in a house.

Municipalities have had these laws on the books for decades. Some like them, especially if they're staying put in their places. Some others don't, especially if they've just bought a place and remember what the previous owner paid in taxes and what was cited in the gaily colored brochure of the house he just bought.

[wizrap]

This was the intent of the law.

As it’s been mentioned, many states have similar laws on the books, so Florida is not an outlier. Our state is probably mentioned more often since so many out-of-staters move here.

[obuma]

Just paid my property tax..with a debit or c.c there is a fee of $39.94 this year in broward... seems like gouging by Broward co.

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by obuma

Just paid my property tax..with a debit or c.c there is a fee of $39.94 this year in broward... seems like gouging by Broward co.

There’s an interchange fee that has to be paid when the transaction is run over the MasterCard/Visa/AmEx network. The county can’t/doesn’t want to cover it for you so if you want to use a card for payment, you pay the fee.

I don’t see it as a particularly big deal- the discount for paying early more than offsets the ‘convenience fee’ and this time of year, there’s probably some sort of credit card sign up bonus or other bonus for a spending threshold I’m trying to hit so I just shrug and move on to the next bill.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by obuma

Just paid my property tax..with a debit or c.c there is a fee of $39.94 this year in broward... seems like gouging by Broward co.

That's a "convenience fee" meant to cover the cc or debit fee charged by the banks/financial institution, and it has been in place as long as I can remember. You can avoid it by writing a paper check or sending an e-check to the county to pay your taxes.