Tally ho

For the next few days I'll be in Tallahassee for the special session of our state Legislature dealing with property taxes. The Legislature is probably going to pass a new proposed amendment to our Constitution for the Jan. 29 election and some kind of statutory change as well.

The major points will probably be a doubling of the homestead exemption to $50,000, the ability to move an existing tax break to a different home ("portability"), and a new tax break of up to 25 percent for first-time home buyers.

There also are proposed tax breaks for low-income seniors and affordable housing, a tax break for tangible personal property that mostly helps business, and some new limits on how much local governments can raise taxes. As for the effects of these tax cuts on local government, and what will have to be cut from local budgets as a result -- hey, that's not the Legislature's problem.

So far there seems to be a pretty good consensus on these ideas. But as always, there's a chance that some or all of the deal could fall apart, or for the addition of last-minute changes. It will be interesting to see how much these ideas are actually discussed, considered and debated, and how much the Legislature simply ratifies a deal made by a few insiders in advance.

I'll be posting frequent updates and observations here on TroxBlog. And Tuesday's weekly live chat will be a special two-hour edition, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. focused on the tax proposals. I hope you'll consider stopping by to contribute a comment or question to our talk.

Best wishes for a good week...

Comments

[Devon Raze]

Howard -
You know it is a deal done by a few select members. How much more narrow could they have made the official call ? Republicans will rubber stamp. Democrats-will they stand up and force to make it better or simply vote NO and be portrayed as "tax & spenders" ????

Devon

[Boo Boo]

Go Howard
Keep an eye on these bums for us.

Rollback tax and spending to 2002 levels, and extend SOH to all property, both residential and commercial.

Problem Solved!

[Larry]

Howard, the clowns up there in Tallahassee are reneging on their promise to fix the tax inequity and provide significant tax relief to the citizens of Florida. Yes, they are throwing a few crumbs to the citzenry, but the depth of the cuts is nowhere near as deep as promised. Why only double the homestead exemption, how about tripling it since their initial proposal was to allow a homestead exemption of up to $195,000. $50,000 is a long way from $195,000, and besides, when you consider that school funding is exempt, which I agree with, the tax cut is only a couple hundred bucks. Have fun up there in Tallahassee, but stay plugged into reality.