Taxes: The roller-coaster ride continues

[Wednesday afternoon update: The Legislature will extend its special session until midnight Oct 22 to take up property-tax reform. In addition to the governor's proposal outlined below, the House and Senate will generate their own plans. Wheee!]

You might have noticed that our Legislature is in special session to cut the state budget. Our governor, Charlie Crist, figures that since they're in Tallahassee anyway, why not do something about property taxes in the next few days? And so the delightful roller coaster ride that is Florida's public policy continues on its merry way. [Times file photo | Melissa Lyttle]

Remember that a court has thrown out the Jan. 29 election on a "super homestead" amendment previously proposed by the Legislature. There's an appeal under way, but right now that means the only tax relief that's taken place is the earlier law that created a one-time rollback of property taxes, which has left a lot of Floridians not very impressed.

What to do, what to do? Well, the Legislature could simply fix the wording of the flawed Jan. 29 amendment. It could try to put together some other kind of tax cut. In that spirit, the governor has come up with a new program. Overall, Crist's plan would cut $6.3-billion over the next five years, which is not nearly the $15-$16-billion that the "super homestead" amendment would have required. To be fair, Crist is saying this is just a starting point and there should be more cuts later.

Here is a copy [Download cristtax.pdf ] of a worksheet showing the effects of the governor's proposed plan, along with the actual text of his proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution. (Hey, at least he has actual wording, which puts us ahead of the game by Florida policy-making standards).

The governor's main ideas:

* Doubling the existing homestead exemption in Florida from $25,000 to $50,000, except for school taxes, which would not be affected. Unlike the existing $25,000 exemption, this new benefit would increase over time with inflation.

* Giving first-time buyers an extra tax break of 25 percent over their home's value as a new tax exemption.

* Creating a "portable" tax benefit so that homebuyers could take their existing Save Our Homes tax cap to a new home. When you moved into a more expensive house, instead of getting socked for the full value, you'd start with the same dollar tax break you had in the old house.

* A tax break for all taxpayers on the first $25,000 of "tangible" personal property. This is a tax break that largely benefits businesses.

* A new cap on the annual revenues of local government, which could not grow faster than inflation. Any excess revenue would be set aside, and if the surplus grew large enough, it would be refunded to taxpayers. As with the existing law, local governments could override this cap by an extraordinary vote.

There's also talk of whether to change Florida's existing law that includes the "highest and best use" of property as a factor in setting its value. That's been a problem for, say, mom-and-pop beachfront hotels worried that they are being taxed as if their land was being used for million-dollar condos.

Big, big ideas, and sure enough, they address some of the problems with the existing tax structure. As to the overall effect, as to whether there are unintended consequences, as to a detailed analysis of the fiscal impact on the state of Florida -- well, if you think the Legislature can responsibly hash out all that in the next few days on the fly, you have more faith than me.

More in tomorrow's print column.

Comments

[Overtaxed Floridian]

Well, Chuck… here we are at the pinnacle of your “hopefully” short-lived career as “The People’s Mistake”. Let’s recap, shall we… Chuck?

The reason you, Chuck, and that group of monkey-sticks called the Legislature were elected and/or re-elected… was primarily based on two promises.

One: stop pandering to, and reign in the mean ol’ insurance industry who squandered decades and decades of premiums on bad investments and nice cars… and now want us to pay for it… and two: reign in our local drunken sailors spending/waste habits by making out-of-control property taxes “Drop like a rock”.

Now, I’ll give you this…Chuck… most voter didn’t realize that that millions of dollars from that mean ol’ insurance industry helped put most of you puppets in office. And most voters didn’t consider that many of the monkey-stick Legislators were systemically trained within the local drunken sailor structure.

However, based on the two promises you minions made… your record to date, Chuck… is… a big 0-for-2. Not 2-0, or even 1-1… no sir… it’s a big ZERO FOR TWO, Chuck.

Now, in fairness… let’s look at what you have done. Well, there is that whole “making it easier for felons to vote” thing. Oh yeah, then there’s that thing you did by giving 8-million of our tax dollars to irresponsible, non-voting, crack head parents. Then there are all those trips you took, on our dime, to hobnob with non-Floridians, and non-Florida taxpayers.

So basically, Chuck… you’ve spent your time, and our money, focused on non-Floridians, non-taxpayers, and non-voters… and completely neglected those Floridians who did vote for you, who do pay Florida taxes… as well as disregarding the promises you made to get them to vote for you in the first place.

Well… Chuck... perhaps in the next elections, Florida voters will make it so you have plenty of free time to get a real tan… and send those monkey-sticks back to their local public bathroom.

Nothing about insurance? I'm far more concerned aout the insurance problem in this state. Taxes, meh, at least I know that gets funneled back to the public one way or another (except the ridiculous amounts being paid to "deputy mayors" and "consultants" and those sorts) but out of almost $4000/yr in homeowners insurance premiums I get NOTHING. I'm afraid to file any claims at all because that'll guarantee a non-renew notice in the mail. The last hurricane we had, when 2 or 3 years ago tore up my pool screens. I SHOULD have been able to file an insurance claim to have them repaired. I didn't dare and ate the expense of replacing them. Taxes? Yeah they're high but hey my garbage gets picked up every week, I know the fire department is standing by if I need them, and schools, library, parks and beaches are all open.

[Larry]

I think the "Overtaxed Floridian" pretty much summed it up. Chuckles the Clown and his stable of monkey sticks now in special session in Tallahassee are about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. But what would Governor Coppertone know about taxes and insurance anyway. He's never even owned a home.