Crist seizes 'economic worries' to sell tax cut

As Buzz reported yesterday, Gov. Charlie Crist has recorded a new robo-call on Amendment 1. Here's the transcript:

“Hi, this is Charlie Crist. As economic worries increase, we may not be able to control Wall Street, but in Florida you have the power to cut your property taxes and put more of your hard earned money back in your pocket, by voting yes on Amendment 1.

Don’t be fooled by the special interests and big government spenders. We can cut your taxes without hurting vital public service. On Tuesday, please vote yes to cut your taxes, vote yes on Amendment 1. Thank you.”

Comments

[UnderAssessed]

Charlie: My house has an assessed value of $49,900.00, thanks to Save Our Homes. I do not plan on moving. Amend 1 will not benefit me at all.
Thanks for the relief

Quit your whining!!!!

What a blather of baseless propaganda. Obviously he doesn't think we should be concerned with the facts, and if we keep electing GOPs, soon our children will be too uneducated to care.

[UnderAssessed]

Just goes to show you that not ALL homeowners will benefit, regardless of what "spin" you might be reading and hearing.

Lovely, I'll have $200 more a year in my pocket but no police and fire protection.

snake oil
–noun
1. any of various liquid concoctions of questionable medical value sold as an all-purpose curative, esp. by traveling hucksters.
2. Slang. deceptive talk or actions; hooey; bunkum: The governor promised to lower taxes, but it was the same old snake oil.

[Buzzard]

I think the governor is doing a fine job, considering he has to pretty much do everything himself. Getting the rest of government to voluntarily cut wasteful spending is about as likely as Lindsay Lohan and Brittany Spears both going straight and joining a convent on the same day. Offer up some alternative plan or quit whining. At the rate home prices are dropping, the tax cut wouldn't be necessary much longer anyway...except for the ones who speculated and paid 200% too much for their new homes. They got what they paid for. I was out for my walk last night and saw a home with the an ASKING price posted on the sign of $175K that would probably have sold for $250K a couple years ago.

Alt Plan: A flat and fair tax on all property.

With this approach, you wouldn't have the commerce clause Constitutional problems that portability with Save Our Homes poses. Even more, first-time homebuyers wouldn't have to carry a larger burden than they would under the flawed Amendment 1 approach, and, unlike Amendment 1, seniors and savers would get some real relief.

VOTE NO because this amendment makes an unfair tax system even more unfair, gives little relief to those that need it the most, and will make true reform more difficult to achieve.

REMEMBER -- YOU WILL BE ALTERING OUR CONSTITUTION. This amendment is unethical, immoral, and unjust. Once it is part of our constitution, good luck getting rid of it.

Please give serious thought to your vote and the needs of our state and the goodwill of all our citizens. And....when in doubt tinkering with the constitution, the safest policy is VOTE NO!

Yes, the Governor has such a tough job - all those vacations, those oversea trips – it is a challenging life. And people are so mean to him – after all didn’t he already make property taxes “fall like a rock” and a 66 cent day savings – WOW that’s almost enough to buy a diet soda a day!!! And didn’t he fix the property insurance crisis? Oh, by the way, your property insurance and all your insurance is going UP in March with an additional Citizen’s 2% surcharge (I think this is the 3rd assessment in less than 18 months) – but who’s counting – its just money – YOUR MONEY to help multi-millionaires insure their beach front property – after all that is more important than you being able to pay your bills!!!

And now he is going to pull the rabbit from the hat – sell us a bill of goods with Amendment 1 (move and trade your 3% cap for a 10% cap which the local government can override and which, regardless, expires in 10 years and is probably unconstitutional to boot) and do this while NOT cutting money to education. You know, that educational system which gets barely a grade of C in national assessments. That same educational system which has decided that because they have to reduce expenditures again they are going to reduce the number of FLORIDA RESIDENT STUDENTS and increase the number of OUT OF STATE STUDENTS because the state doesn’t pay enough to educate the Florida Students.

But heaven forbid that he actually take a stand and do something controversial like REALLY ADDRESS THE FUNDING SYSTEMS IN THIS STATE. How about ELIMINATING PROPERTY TAXES and ELIMINATING THE FATCAT EXEMPTIONS IN THE SALES TAX??? Why should MULTIMILLIONAIRES NOT PAY TAXES ON THEIR SKYBOXES, ADVERTISING, SUPER BOWL TICKETS, and services?????

Sorry, Charlie, I can’t afford to continue subsidizing the RICH – I’m one of the working poor and I’m tired of bearing all the burden. You and your cohorts, Pruitt and Rubio are selfish, self-centered, and self-opinionated. You take a state paycheck and then don’t work. You use state resources as if they are your personal piggy banks. You feed like hogs to a trough while those who actually do the work are starved.

Vote NO on Amendment 1. Vote anti-incumbent or anti-incumbent’s party next election and each election thereafter until these bums learn that they work for us and not the Party or the lobbyists!!!

[Betty]

Yes, the Governor has such a tough job - all those vacations, those oversea trips – it is a challenging life. And people are so mean to him – after all didn’t he already make property taxes “fall like a rock” and a 66 cent day savings – WOW that’s almost enough to buy a diet soda a day!!! And didn’t he fix the property insurance crisis? Oh, by the way, your property insurance and all your insurance is going UP in March with an additional Citizen’s 2% surcharge (I think this is the 3rd assessment in less than 18 months) – but who’s counting – its just money – YOUR MONEY to help multi-millionaires insure their beach front property – after all that is more important than you being able to pay your bills!!!

And now he is going to pull the rabbit from the hat – sell us a bill of goods with Amendment 1 (move and trade your 3% cap for a 10% cap which the local government can override and which, regardless, expires in 10 years and is probably unconstitutional to boot) and do this while NOT cutting money to education. You know, that educational system which gets barely a grade of C in national assessments. That same educational system which has decided that because they have to reduce expenditures again they are going to reduce the number of FLORIDA RESIDENT STUDENTS and increase the number of OUT OF STATE STUDENTS because the state doesn’t pay enough to educate the Florida Students.

But heaven forbid that he actually take a stand and do something controversial like REALLY ADDRESS THE FUNDING SYSTEMS IN THIS STATE. How about ELIMINATING PROPERTY TAXES and ELIMINATING THE FATCAT EXEMPTIONS IN THE SALES TAX??? Why should MULTIMILLIONAIRES NOT PAY TAXES ON THEIR SKYBOXES, ADVERTISING, SUPER BOWL TICKETS, and services?????

Sorry, Charlie, I can’t afford to continue subsidizing the RICH – I’m one of the working poor and I’m tired of bearing all the burden. You and your cohorts, Pruitt and Rubio are selfish, self-centered, and self-opinionated. You take a state paycheck and then don’t work. You use state resources as if they are your personal piggy banks. You feed like hogs to a trough while those who actually do the work are starved.

Vote NO on Amendment 1. Vote anti-incumbent or anti-incumbent’s party next election and each election thereafter until these bums learn that they work for us and not the Party or the lobbyists!!!

Who is doing the phones?

Originally published Feb. 19, 2006

GULF BREEZE - Fred Levin's seaside estate featured 47 rooms, six wet bars and an Italian marble pier that stretched far enough into Santa Rosa Sound for him to dock his gleaming yacht.

Levin, a high-profile Pensacola lawyer, entertained celebrities, politicians and athletes who marveled at his wine cellar and toasted his extensive art collection with works by Salvador Dali and LeRoy Neiman.

Hurricane Ivan destroyed the home in September 2004. Storm surge pulverized the ground floor, as 135 mph winds tore at the exterior and sent debris crashing like cannon balls into windows and walls.

No private insurance company would risk covering a mansion so dangerously close to the Gulf of Mexico. So Levin bought coverage from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-created insurer that covers much of Florida's most vulnerable coastal property.

Now Levin sits with a $4 million payout from Citizens considering whether to rebuild or sell and let someone else take a chance on Mother Nature.

Rebuilding is a fact of life in paradise.

Consumer-backed Citizens paid more than $150 million in claims in Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach in 2004. The payout was partially to blame for Citizens' $516 million deficit that year.

You're welcome Fred.
Love,
Florida's Taxpayers

---The founders of this great nation, and our great state, never intended our Constitutions to be a means by which to validate the act of taxation of the people, regardless of a perceived result.

This is a very slippery slope, and an extremely dangerous precedent.

For that reason alone, everyone should vote NO.---

2:56 PM

I agree with much of what you say, but stop telling LIES about Amendment 1 trading a 3% cap for a 10% cap. That is not true it only hurts the opponents when you lie.

Crist is burying himself with his half-truths by making blanket statements that it helps seniors and families and preserves SOH. Not all seniors are helped that either don't own a home or live in a home under $50,000 in value. Not all families are helped -- especially not the ones that need it the most. He also implies you need to vote YES to preserve SOH -- it will still be there no matter the outcome.

VOTE NO, not because we don't need reform or our government needs to stop wasting our money, VOTE NO because it makes an already unfair system even more unfair. How could anyone vote yes and want this unjust, immoral and unethical amendment to become part of our constitution?

Listen up kiddies. Today's phrase of the day is: "One-term Charlie"

Vote No on 1. It's a sham and it will only make our tax problems worse!

[terminator]

2:55 (56): great post!

Buzzard:
I think you ate some rancid roadkill and it's getting to you.
It was Charlie the tuna and his senate buddies that gave you the screw job called Amendment One.
If you recall, Marco and the house actually wanted to CUT taxes.
The tax swap plan pushed by the house is totally fair and similar to the flat tax in that the more you spend the more tax you pay. Georgia and Indiana legislatures are currently considering it as we speak. John Kenneth Galbreath would have been proud of such a pump priming policy not the peanut shell game Crist and the Senate are trying to pass off on unwitting voters.

As far as Charlie's pompous propaganda about special interests and big government, isn't it FPL who has pumped in 750K and FL Board of Realtors who shelled out a cool million?

Silly Charlie, Florida taxpayers want tuna that tastes good not tuna that's overly sun-tanned, has a spine made of jello, different colored eyebrows than hair and tells lots of half-truths!

[calfloridia]

Time to go home you frustrated House staffers!

[buzzard]

Re: REALLY ADDRESS THE FUNDING SYSTEMS IN THIS STATE. How about ELIMINATING PROPERTY TAXES and ELIMINATING THE FATCAT EXEMPTIONS IN THE SALES TAX??? Why should MULTIMILLIONAIRES NOT PAY TAXES ON THEIR SKYBOXES, ADVERTISING, SUPER BOWL TICKETS, and services?????

To which I say amen, amen, amen! Make it a flat across the board tax on positively EVERY single thing and/or service sold except groceries. And amen to you too, 3:04 PM, re insurance.

[Buzzard]

And in exchange for citizens giving up the only control they have on government spending via the property tax cap, add this: State budget shall not be increased more than 3% in a year without a referendum.

If Rubio didn't want Amendment 1 why did he call it from messages, put it on the House calendar, and for Yea for it?

1:31pm,
you are hardly paying any property taxes at all after your exemption & you want more savings?