Crist launches Amendment 1 TV ads

The Buzz is that as early as Wednesday Gov. Charlie Crist will appear in TV ads to promote Amendment 1, the property tax cut proposal on the Jan. 29 ballot.

Records show that on Monday the Vote Yes on 1 campaign spent $277,000 for a media buy that will put the ad in several markets across the state, but apparently not Miami due to cost. The ad, produced by Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer, will likely highlight Crist's longtime focus on the issue, from his bid for office in 2006 to his inaugural address.

It will prove to be the biggest push yet by the telegenic Crist to get the amendment over the 60 percent approval needed for passage. And it's one that opponents likely will not be able to match, at least not in the same degree of Crist and Co.

Crist continues to collect money to pursue his goal, with records showing $50,000 today from the Florida Home Builders Association. Vote Yes on 1 has pulled in a total of $2.8-million in checks, far short of what it wanted, but enough to spread the word.

Comments

Charlie Crist should be President!

Brilliant strategy! Way to go team Crist!

Records also show money still rolling in.

http://www.yeson1florida.com/resources/docs/contributions.pdf

lol needs 60% but doesn't run it in the most populous market because of money

tired of this clown Governor yet?!

that's a pretty sweet roster - let's hope the Governor keeps his end of the bargain come Session when each of those donors wants him to sign off on their legislation

Truth be told, the Florida Chamber hates amendment 1, and is only supporting it because the rest of their agenda is DOA if they don't. My guess is many others are in the same boat.

Go Charlie!!

I see some Hillsborough County activists are recent additions to that list.

[terminator]

good luck team Crist. You'll need it.
A One is currently polling around 40%.
It must be hard for Chuck to keep a straight face when he promises tax relief to Florida's citizens.
Chuck campaigned yesterday in Broward with Democratic Property Appraiser Lori Parrish.
Wonder if he visited his liberal buddies Geller and Wexler while he was in town.

[No Relief For Me]

VOTE NO because Amendment 1 is unjust and immoral.

Portability is wrong wrong wrong. 3 Buyers want to buy the same home.

BUYER 1 - ports $500,000 exemption
BUYER 2 - ports $100,000 exemption
BUYER 3 - ports $0

Buyer 3 moved too soon, or is a newcomer, or is your child someday

Difference in the taxes they pay....

BUYER 1 - pays $10,000 lesS in taxes
BUYER 2 - pays $2,000 less in taxes
BUYER 3 - gets $0 savings

Amendment 1 is discrimination and is crap!! VOTE NO!! Force our legialtors back to session to propose viable tax reform for all, including those in most need of relief.

Amendment 1 will not jump-start the economy. Most w/portable benefits don't want to move. We need REAL REFORM!!

[No Relief For Me]

To 10:09 PM

Where are you getting your stats. I pray you are right.

VOTE NO!! Amendment 1 would be devastating to our economy. We need REAL TAX REFORM. Passing of this amendment will thwart efforts for viable reform.

Termie...you are wrong...AGAIN!

Last poll (I believe it was either Rassmussen or Quinnipiac)shows Amendment 1 easily passing with nearly 70% YES vote.

Remember you cannot vote undecided on Jan. 29th. It's either YES or NO.

The poll showed nearly 70% YES & 30% NO.

Looks like this will pass easily.

I'm voting YES on Amendment 1.

-around $240 in property tax savings
-could save residents thousand with PORTABILITY
-force local government to stop spending like cash grow on trees

YES on 1 for me & my family

[Boca Grande]

No Relief For Me, we do the same thing with federal income taxes. Those with capital gains do not pay income taxes on their gains until they sell their property and then they receive a lower tax rate. Moreover, some taxpayers engage in like kind exchanges and recognize no gain when they exchange one property for another, very similar to portability. These measures help prevent a stagnant economy by minmizing the tax burden on those who engage in voluntary transactions. Why sell a stock if you will be whacked with taxes. Just hold onto it.

Likewise your analysis is stagnant. Without portability Buyer 1 in your scenario simply does not sell his house and buy a new one. Portability allows homeowners to buy and sell their homes with out fear of substantial penalty. Transactions are good. They generate business for movers, plumbers, electricians, furniture stores and others. Stagnation is bad. Your selfish thinking is similar to the ideas that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Amendment One does not cure everything. There is more to come. If it is defeated tax relief is dead.

Hey Termie, what's new with A.K. Desai? Where is all that inside information you claim to possess?

[No Relief For Me]

To 11:14 PM

You are being selfish? Think about the good of our state. It is unjust and immoral that different families pay varied tax rate on the purchase of a new home.

We all need relief -- not just some. Why should you pay less than someone else?

Why should you pay less than your child someday who wants to buy a home? Why should you be guaranteed low taxes forever while your child carries the burden for you with everyone else?

yes I'm not enthused on Amendment 1, but I will vote yes on Jan. 29th.

This is just a start. We will be demanding much more relief after it gets passed because $240 is not enough.

You hear that Gov Crist?

Portability of SOH is the main draw here. yes yes yes on 1

11:33pm

SOH is immoral, but the people of FL will never give it up unless they get something better.
Democrats will not go along with a real needed reform and relief.
So we end up with Amendment 1.
If you have been in politics long enough, you learn to take what you can get and then work for more later.

This is a big election year, more property tax relief/reform will be coming down the pipe.

Is it too late to add a choice to the ballot?

- GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Less than 66 cents a day in savings at the max!!! Most will get much less than that!!!

It is likely that it will be found unconstitutional and then you'll have no protection.

And if we let them get away with this fake fix they won't go back and do the hard work to get it done right.

Vote No on Amendment 1

Less than 66 cents a day in savings at the max!!! Most will get much less than that!!!

It is likely that it will be found unconstitutional and then you'll have no protection.

And if we let them get away with this fake fix they won't go back and do the hard work to get it done right.

Vote No on Amendment 1

This amendment is a loser for Florida. It will make the whole situation worst. I this passes, Florida will never get true tax reform.

Crist has totally failed on this and shows he is just a Glad-Hander. He takes the middle of the road all the time and does not upset the apple cart.

Vote No!

I can't find any polls that says Amendment 1 will pass! All the ones I have looked up indicate if falls short!

Vote No!

Just saw the ad in Tampa this morning.

The narrator clearly says "it will double your homestead exemption"

THAT IS PATENTLY FALSE, and the Governor knows it, even acknowledging as much yesterday - Yet he endorsed the langauge of that ad.

He quesitoned the integrity of opponents to Amenment One - THEN LIES TO YOU ALL the very next morning on TV.

I am disgusted in myself for voting for and supporting him one year ago, and any consideration I had to voting for Amendment 1 is now gone. Don't lie to me Charlie, its insulting.

[Jim Johnson]

Nonsense! Save Our Homes isnt immoral. It spared homesteaders the cost of paying for new development needs NOT included in the price of the home or business.

Its a helluva deal when you can fill an orange-grove with new homes, then get everyone else to pick up the bill for the streets and sewers and schools and police-fire protection your project requires.

And if youre dum enough to pay the grossly inflated prices for a home, you whine about how unfair it is sensible people arent taken to the tax-cleaners, too.

[No Relief For Me]

Jim Johnson....

What about 15 year homeowners who moved in 2006 into a 15 year home? There is no new roads that need to be paid for and the homeowner has already paid taxes for 15 years.

This move has resulted in them paying twice the taxes as their neighbor for the same value of home. Because of the declining market, the new home they purchased may be worth less than what they paid. They are not asking anyone to make up for that. All they want is equal taxes. Heck, most would be willing to settle for taxes only 25% to 50% more than their neighbors -- not 100% to 300% more.

To Boca Grande,

Yes the rich have found ways to avoid paying federal tax. Hang on to your stocks to avoid paying capital gains tax. You run the risk of that stock tubing. I realize we need something to jump-start our economy, but giving disportionate exemptions, which benefit the more advantaged, is just wrong. If we vote this in, we will be stuck with it and viable reform will not happen. All new buyers need exemptions and then we will see our economy turn around.

Those with portable benefits will have to trade homes amongst themselves. How is that going to jump-start the economy? Most don't want to move and those who do....good luck finding a buyer.

I can’t wait for my $240 savings… I’m going to use it to jump-start our economy by buying a new car, a new home, a new TV, new furniture, open my own business, take a three week vacation to Europe, send my kids to college… and with the money I have left over, I’m going to donate to the “Re-Elect The Peoples’ Mistake” campaign!… right after I buy a big bag of pot. Maybe if I smoke all of it at once, I’ll forget what a miserable bunch of retards Chuck and his band of criminals in Tallytown are.

VOTE NO… then throw all of their as*es out come Election Day! We’ll start over with a new group, and outlaw photo ops.

I am a Conservative who will be voting NO. My husband and I whose families are in South FL all are voting NO.

$240 a year?

Maybe instead of banning drugs in a head shop they should be sharing.

9:38 Good Choice!

[Ima Fedup]

If this amendment passes, you can bet the Governor and the Legislature will pretty well drop any other ideas of completing our much needed tax reform. They will say they gave us relief and we voted yes to accept it. With the current situation regarding not only local budgets, but also the shortfall in the state's budget, you can be sure that they will not want to offer up any additional tax relief. If the amendment fails the house and the senate will have no choice but to look deeper for a better way to provide tax relief and to work with the TBRC.

[terminator]

Boca:
are you still mad about that? You must have awful thin skin.

Anyway, the SP Times reported extensively on Mr. Desai's business activities. It's well documented.

I suspect he's one of the nitwits who wants to bring creationism into our schools?

Yeah; creationism is a joke…

HEY; there’s my uncle, the frog…

[Boca Grande]

Termie, the St. Pete Times confirmed what I stated about the situation. The Times in its "extensive" coverage did not confirm any of your malicious, defamatory claims. You said you knew things because you had friends in the Insurance Department. Weenie.

Yes. I have a thin skin. You are still a fool.

[Boca Grande]

No Relief for Me (that name tells me all I need to know) and the rest of you whining about fairness, taxes are NEVER fair. High taxes are evil. All taxes should lower. I fight for every tax cut that comes along. There are those on the other side who want higher taxes. If you side with those who want higher taxes that is what you will get---higher taxes, and taxes will still be unfair.

Then those spouting the $240 annual savings figure are being deceptive. That is the expected average savings for only the homestead exemption part of the amendment. The savings from portability amounts to thousands of dollars for the average homeowner.

Is it enough? No. Keep fighting.

"The savings from portability amounts to thousands of dollars for the average homeowner."

That's a flat-out lie, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

[Gil - Delray]

Only the very greedy would support this Amendment. If the $240 a year saving means that much to them, then let's take up a collection and donate to the parasites who don't pay their fair share of property taxes. This Amendment is too laughable to be discussed seriously. NO, NO, NO on January 29th. And as far as the so-called polls that show the Amendment will pass by 70%, may I refer you to the polls that, yesterday, showed Obama would defeat Hillary by a double-digit margin.

BANG-O-RANG, 11:40!

A 60 year old couple whose kids left five years prior move out of their 4 bedroom home in Pasco. A family of 5 movesin with 3 kids, bringing with them their portable exemption.

Now, Pasco county has assumed the cost of 3 net new residents generating more waste, using more roads, going to schools, with a significant reduction in revenues for funding those impacts.

portability - yeah a real GREAT idea

[terminator]

Boca:
now you're the one who's lying.

if amendment one passes neither Crist nor the Senate will do one thing more on tax reform.

question: who's going to buy the houses of all those SOH folks who are taking their portability with them?

if I'm a fool you're a moron sir!

[terminator]

boca:
see the strand on Alan Levine.

the lone consumer says in his post that McCarty has instructed Desai to "fold his medicare tent".

why would a guy making $600K a year leave suddenly to take a job as head of the Louisiana Health Department making $100K and change?

maybe potential conflicts of interest coming to light?

any answers Bueller?

[No Relief For Me]

Boca....

I'm all for tax cuts. I agree our government has been greedy and we need to stop them.

Portability, however, is discrimination. Portability is unmmoral and unjust. Portability only gives relief to those already enjoying low taxes. I'm not suggesting they should pay more. I'm saying the overburdened who are not helped by this amendment should be paying less. If we allow portability, it will stop efforts for truly viable reform and the overburdened will never see relief.

VOTE NO! To anyone who votes YES, you are so self-centered that you only care about how this benefits you and not our state overall.

termie:
are you smoking the stuff from the head shop?

Can't we all just get-the-freak-along!

xxxx's and ooooo's, yuns!

It's pretty obvious that "No Relief for Me" is just a paid lackey blogging on behalf of one special interest group or another.

[terminator]

2:03
no, I've got my own supply of high grade thanks!

Evelyn (god bless her) is a sweetie pie but sometimes, well frankly (she's kind of kookoo).

I don't care what you guys are spewing or what lobbyist you work for.

Me & my family are voting YES on any property tax relief.

Almost everyone I know that will be voting on this issue support Amendment 1.

Portability of Save Our Homes is the real draw here.

Savings:
$240 + nearly $6000 if we ever want to move so,

YES on Amendment 1 for us.

[terminator]

7:31
just one question: "who will be able to afford the taxes if they want to buy your house"?

good luck selling, you'll need it.

We'll work on reducing more property taxes after Amendment 1 gets passed.
Then maybe we can actually fix our economy.

Marco Rubio had the best plan-eliminate all property taxes for residents.

Then our economy will be the hit of the nation. Everyone will want to move here.

[No Relief For Me]

To 7:31

Portability is the real problem with this amendment. It is unjust, unmoral and unconstitutional. All buyers need exemptions -- not just some.

Furthermore, those who made the most on the sale of their home, get the biggest break on the purchase of their new home.

Unjust....unmoral.....unconstitutional. Or for those of you who need grammar simplified.....IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

[No Relief For Me]

TOP 10 REASONS TO VOTE NO ON 1....

1. Portability is unconstitutional, it creates an elite and permanent class within the same class of taxpayer and will eventually be deemed illegal in a court of law. Altering the original Save Our Homes amendment may actually put it at risk of being removed from our state constitution, leaving homesteaders with no cap on assessments whatsoever.

2. Portable values will diminish each year the just value of your home drops. With valuations plummeting our property appraisers will see to it your accumulated SOH benefits will be gone in a few short years, leaving us right back where we started to begin with.

3. Portability will shut the welcome doors to Florida telling all outsiders that you will pay dearly if you move here. Who is going to buy the glut of already empty homes in Florida? Without an infusion of new home buyers, our real estate market will never recover.

4. This amendment does nothing to help balance the gross inequities in our property tax system. It will only further exacerbate the divide in the citizenry and pit us against one another.

5. This amendment does nothing to help our children or young families afford a home in the future. They to have the right to the American dream of home ownership.

6. The 10% cap to non homesteaded properties and extra $25,000 homestead exemption does not include the school board portion of your property taxes. This means it will save you much less than portrayed. Actually it provides almost nothing to those who do not intend to move with thousands in accumulated SOH benefits.

7. This amendment gives no relief to those presently crushed in taxes. They were the ones who originally started the property tax reform movement and got the double barreled middle finger from Crist and the legislature.

8. This amendment will cause more snowbirds to leave who are a vital part of our economy. Not to mention commercial property owners get no break to pass on to renters.

9. This amendment does nothing to stop the runaway spending of local governments.

10. Accepting this amendment will thwart any hope of meaningful property tax reform that will help everyone and strengthen our economy.

Vote NO and let them keep their unconstitutional amendment.