... And these Monday-morning items
* Yep, between same-sex marriage and illegal immigrants, it's shaping up for another election year of thoughtful discussion about important issues.
* My colleague Sue Carlton wrote the other day about Hillsborough County's opposition to the petition for an elected county mayor. I agree that the County Commission's pretext is ridiculously thin. One more case of the government using tax dollars to try to thwart the citizens.
* This man seems to be acting with uncommon grace. His congregation, too. So, good luck to him.
* On the other hand, seems like a good time to point out that not every use of the word "pornography" connotes, you know, child molesting and evildoing and the feds seizing one's computer... I know that YOU would never look at dirty stuff on the Internet, of course...
* Does anyone begrudge George Steinbrenner this honor after being such a benefactor to the Tampa Bay area? The question is not rhetorical -- I would be curious to hear from anyone who disagreed.
Welcome to TroxBlog, the web-home of columnist Howard Troxler, where he and readers discuss his column topics and current events. The goal here is to focus on the merits of issues, instead of personal attacks or knee-jerk partisanship.
Howard, I noted in reading the proposed ballot questions for January that the additional $25,000 does not apply until a value of $50,000 to $75,000, and even that is not exempt from school levies. You mean that if I live in a $24,000 home, the entire value is tax exempt from all levies, but if I am "rich" enough to live in a $49,000 home, I still owe taxes on the $24,000, and I get no tax break? Wow, nothing like balancing the books on the backs of the poorest among us. Our legislative geniuses are too kind.
Posted by: Lawrence | December 18, 2007 at 08:47 AM
Dear Lawrence:
Yep. Everybody is totally exempt on the first $25,000 of homestead value. Then the second exemption kicks in and covers the value between $50,000 and $75,000, as you say.
I am not sure of the justification for this, whether it's practical or ideological ("everybody should contribute SOMETHING"). As a practical matter, I wonder how many homestead values fall between $25,000 and $49,999 anyway.
But, yep, it's not a straight-up exemption for the first $50,000, and therefore is not as progressive a tax as it could be.
Posted by: Howard Troxler | December 18, 2007 at 10:15 AM