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Back in the early 1980s, the Florida legislature convinced voters that the Florida Lottery was needed to fund education. It does, the problem is the money raised by the lottery is now offset by removing the assigned dollars to the general tax fund. A-B= 0.
I see this as another bait and switch. Most recently the legislature convinced voters to approve an additional $25,000 homestead exemption for War Veterans. This would allow a vet to get $50,000 vs. $25,000 off of their assessed property value. This proposal passed easily this past November. After the passage, it was discovered that the information on the ballot failed to clarify that you had to be a FLORIDA resident at the time of enlistment in order to get this exemption!
Now the Republican House Speaker has proposed raising the State sales tax to 8.5% & 9.5% in Miami-Dade County and in order to lower property taxes on homestead properties by 19%. They want to put this on the ballot in a Special Election this summer instead of waiting to put it on the ballot during a primary or general election because they know there will not be a huge turnout, giving them the opportunity to pass the measure.
The legislature is going about this the wrong way. How about lowering the State’s expenses by removing lobbyists from the political process. The legislature approved insurance premiums over the last 4 years by 70%. They now have decided to lower the insurance rates by 20%. Over a period of 4 years, the increase of insurance is now 56% vs. 70%. This is not helping the citizens of Florida. The Governors number one campaign contributor was the insurance companies!
The My Safe Florida Home project stole 2.9 Million dollars of the State’s resources and there has not been one gable reinforced since the pilot program was conducted.
Those that have property investments will not benefit from this new proposal because the property cannot be homesteaded.
I encourage you to get the word out to your clients and anyone in the real estate community.
This proposal is like the equilivant of getting 10% off during a Macy’s sale knowing that the merchandise is marked up 300%.
Idaho, the most Republican State in the Nation, just did the same thing, the REpublicans raised the Sales Tax so they could drop the property Tax, it seems to be the New Thing in Smoke and Mirrors.
Too often voters seem to believe in the “free lunch”
They are convinced that someone else is actually paying for the increases and so think it’s a good idea. They fail to realize the “hidden costs” of tax increases that finds it’s way into the price of every product they purchase.
FL is fortunate not to have an income tax which is even more pernicious. When these exist people delude themselves into believing that “the rich” take the brunt of income tax increases when what actually happens is the increased taxes get passed down to the products and services they themselves consume.
The only way to stop tax increases is to starve the beast of government spending. If anyone can think of a better way please share it us.
Just in case someone hasn’t noticed people are now moving out of Florida faster then they can be replaced, the simple fact is that most people can no longer afford to retire in Florida. We are still continuing to build houses, roads & schools for a shrinking population, all we need is for another bad hurricane season to create ghost towns.
If the government was unable to operate under the last 10 boom years, how will they operate in the possible next ten lean years?
I am for the elimination of taxation on homes and support Marco Rubio’s plan. The reason is simple: My home should belong to me and not the goverment. If I fail to pay property tax the goverment will come to my house with a gun to steal the property from me.
Lewis…don’t get me started on that subject. The local school district seems to always have some new bond up for vote every time you turn around…and to top it off the superintendent drives around a Hummer for his official school vehicle. :roll:
I think that the answer to this is simply to license all Florida home inspectors. The license fee of $700,000 multiplied by Florida NACHI members, alone, should do enough to take care of all of Florida’s financial woes.
Don’t get me started either.
People just don’t seem to get the fact that the school board members they vote for directly influence the appearance of these numerous bond issues. The board is often stacked with “education friendly” members. They they do fun things like submitting referendums repeatedly until they finally pass. Or my latest favorite here when they scheduled the referendum 3 weeks after last Falls general election. They finally got it passed with that tactic by a slim margin thanks to a low turnout and many "snowbirds having left town by then.
Pay attention to those you put in office. It definitely affects your pocket book.
You don’t need Licensing, you need Impact Fees, for every thousand homes built not only do new Community services need to be built and provided, so do New Schools, let the additional Schools and services be paid for by Fees charged on the sales of Newly constructed Homes
In Osceola county the impact fees went up about 50% from the previous year in March. So yes we have those, but the goverment always spends more han what they get on impact fees.
Here in Hillsborough county we now have about 10,000 new 4 bedroom houses which are vacant, the real problem is that we are building schools & roads to meet this as of yet missing population. The trend has reversed, people are finding out it costs more to live here then where they came from and are going back… with their money.
