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I hope that others will write, call or e-mail the Governor in order that we find out what our taxes will really be before property tax reform is passed.
Dear Governor Crist:
In regards to property taxes and exemptions, I would like to share my experience with you. I worked for the Property Appraiser’s office for over 23 years and have an understanding of how individual assessments, total taxable value and the budgets of taxing authorities effect millage rate.
Before taking any steps in establishing the $50,000 homestead exemption or portable homestead exemption, you may wish to have the Department of Revenue run a test using the 2006 property tax rolls of each county to compute the effects of the changes on individual tax bills. At that point, you can then group properties by use and value ranges for further study. The point is to know where the tax burden will shift and what effect will the shift in the tax burden have on Florida as a whole.
I am not clear on the proposal to extend the cap to business and rental properties. Would this shift the burden to vacant land? Also, due to the fact that Save Our Homes has been in effect for 10 plus years, business and rental properties would still be paying a much higher percentage of the total taxes.
As an employee of the Property Appraiser’s Office in the 1980’s when the homestead exemption was increased from $5,000 to $25,000, I had to answer questions from tax- payers, who voted for the increase in homestead exemption, received the exemption, but had higher property taxes than the year before even thought their taxable value was lower than the previous year. Of course, the answer was “total taxable value”. As value is taken off the tax roll through exemptions, caps or classifications, total taxable value increases and millage rates increase.
Florida needs property tax reform. Government does need to reduce spending and each taxpayer should be paying their share of the taxes. Florida statutes call for “fair and equitable assessments” that would have allowed each property owner to pay taxes based on the assessment of the property. Exemptions, classifications and caps have distorted that balance.
In the 21st century, we don’t have to go forward with tax reform and just hope it works.
We have the computing power now to calculate how these changes will affect individual taxpayers and the state as a whole.
I can only hope that you will take the time to research this matter carefully. The heroes of Florida are those that can find the way to provide services at a price that we can all afford.
Sincerely,
Penny Farrar
2655 Cherrywood Lane
Titusville, FL 32780
With all the damage to the infrastructure and the number of homes destroyed by the weather, I do not see any relief on the horizon for the taxpayers. Roads need to be fixed, gov. buildings repaired. Insurance companies will always put profit before compasion. I sadly see Florida becoming a state for the ultra rich and the desperate poor.
All states that have no state income tax have high property taxes, i.e. Texas and Tennessee. If you lower the prop tax, then you will have to have state income tax. The money has to come from somewhere. It's either/or. You need to make up your minds, which is it. The prop taxes in other states are just like Florida's. Some states have high car tag taxes. Like I said, if you want infrastructure, police, firefighters, etc. you have to pay for it. It's not free.
All states that have no state income tax have high property taxes, i.e. Texas and Tennessee. If you lower the prop tax, then you will have to have state income tax. The money has to come from somewhere. It's either/or. You need to make up your minds, which is it. The prop taxes in other states are just like Florida's. Some states have high car tag taxes. Like I said, if you want infrastructure, police, firefighters, etc. you have to pay for it. It's not free.
Just a quick correction, TN has LOW property tax. example. $2.00 per assessed value. A 250k house assessed at 25k is $500 per year in property taxes. What they are high in is sales tax of 9.25% and that includes food too.
I'm really disappointed to say that residents will more then likely not see any tax relief after last night. It costs a LOT of $$ to fix what's broken now. There's just too much to pay for to not have tax dollars rolling in.
I also want to say that I was wrong in one of my statements on this forum. I had previously stated that the only time Fla. has much of a tornado is during a hurricane and that tornado alley (which I live in) has the big tornadoes and big damage from them. Guess I was really wrong on that one.
sorry about the Tennessee tax thing - but okay they have high sales tax. what i meant was - whichever state you live in - someone has to pay for services, i.e. police, fireman. If you live in storm prone states, you have to pay to build it back. even you get prop taxes lowered, all this still has to be paid for. not that i like it - it's just a fact.
The worst type of state revenue source. Alabama has one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation due to its heavy dependence on sales taxes (slightly less regressive than Tennessee, I believe)... there is no tax that is more effective in burdening the poor more than the rich.
All states that have no state income tax have high property taxes, i.e. Texas and Tennessee. If you lower the prop tax, then you will have to have state income tax. The money has to come from somewhere. It's either/or. You need to make up your minds, which is it. The prop taxes in other states are just like Florida's. Some states have high car tag taxes. Like I said, if you want infrastructure, police, firefighters, etc. you have to pay for it. It's not free.
Florida property taxes are not like other states because of "Save Our Homes"
This was put in to play 11 years ago that put a cap of 3% on homestead properties. Each year properties that receive homestead exemption can only increase in assessed value by no more than 3%. This shifts the tax budren to non-homesteaded properties. Also over time, the higher valued homes are assessed at a much lower assessed value to just value ratio. On top of this, Fla is debating to increase the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000. Yes, I am much aware that it's not free---it just that each taxpayer should pay their share of the taxes. I actually benefit from the tax struture under the 3% cap and would benefit more if the homestead exemption was increased---but others would suffer---renters, first time homebuyers, business---I believe in "fair and equitable assessments that result in a somewhat of "fair and equitable taxes " Again, exemptions, caps,
and classifed properties distort the balance and shift the tax burden.
Florida property taxes are not like other states because of "Save Our Homes"
This was put in to play 11 years ago that put a cap of 3% on homestead properties. Each year properties that receive homestead exemption can only increase in assessed value by no more than 3%. This shifts the tax budren to non-homesteaded properties. Also over time, the higher valued homes are assessed at a much lower assessed value to just value ratio. On top of this, Fla is debating to increase the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000. Yes, I am much aware that it's not free---it just that each taxpayer should pay their share of the taxes. I actually benefit from the tax struture under the 3% cap and would benefit more if the homestead exemption was increased---but others would suffer---renters, first time homebuyers, business---I believe in "fair and equitable assessments that result in a somewhat of "fair and equitable taxes " Again, exemptions, caps,
and classifed properties distort the balance and shift the tax burden.
I think that one way to get taxes under control is to reduce government spending. If the high salaries and perks were trimmed of all the fat there would not be the need for high taxes. Just think of all the savings if public jobs were capped and no free use of gov't vehicles. But then that would be to easy of a solution. Remember they work for us and they are replaceable.
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I had previously stated that the only time Fla. has much of a tornado is during a hurricane and that tornado alley (which I live in) has the big tornadoes and big damage from them. Guess I was really wrong on that one.
Fla property taxes not like other states
High Prpoerty Taxes
