More Property Tax Relief
Over the past several months there has been much discussion on the blog about lowering property taxes in the state of Florida. The Florida House passed a number of measures that would have lowered property taxes and stimulated our economy. However, none of them became law. Instead, on January 29, 2008 we will have to vote on a property tax amendment that many taxpayers feel falls short of what’s needed.
There is a grassroots petition drive underway that may be a good supplement to the January 29 property tax amendment. It calls for a maximum tax of 1.35% of the taxable value of a parcel of property. This is a true grassroots movement, led by citizen activists and not politicians.
The plan is simple and applies to all properties. Importantly, it also keeps Save Our Homes (SOH), cuts almost $8 billion in property taxes and fills some holes in the January 29 property tax amendment. It is advantageous to non-homestead property owners, owners of business properties and first-time home buyers.
We encourage you to go to the group’s website: www.cutpropertytaxesnow.com.
Look over the plan and learn more about it. From the website, you can print a copy of the petition; 600,000 signatures are needed by January 31st in order to put this question on the November 2008 ballot.
A couple of questions for discussion:
(1) Do you support this initiative? Why or why not?
(2) Is Tax Reform being held back too much by all the political attention to “protecting” the education budgets (state and local)?
posted by Blog Master @ 8:01 AM
50 Comments:
My petition's in the mail.
I’m supporting the amendment and the one in January. We calculated the property taxes on our office using the 1.35% and it moves them back to what we paid in 2004. Can’t turn down something like that. And it should help the real estate market.
The question on schools, yes too much attention is given to them. They should have to look at their budgets with the same budget cut standards the Marion County Commissioners have to look at theirs.
WOW!!
Reducing property taxes by 26%, that's meaningful.
You really think County governments are going to let it get through. No way.
You're correct and as John Lund used to say "and that's the truth".
I would like to know what State Representive Kelly and State Senator Dean think of this proposal. Also, how they voted on the previous ones.
What are the state county commissioners lobby saying ?
At first glance this looks good to me.
Clayton Ellsworth
Is this the tax cut plan that Marc Rubio is now pushing?
According to The Miami Herald,Marc Rubio is putting his considerable shoulders to this proposal.
Rubio continues his deeping opposition to Charlie Crist.
Crist seems to be giving Governor Spitzer of New York a run for the money, as worst new Governor.
Clayton Ellsworth
Taxes on the strip of business buildings I own and rent out in Belleview, down 22% under the 1.35%amendment. Now that’s what I’d call closer to dropping like a rock!
Clayton, It’s Marco not Marc. Charlie Crist is currently one of the most popular Governor’s in Florida’s history (according to polls). Marco Rubio is likely challenging Crist because he does not have the support within his own Party that other popular Governor’s have had. Crist could easily become another Spitzer if he does not solve the insurance and property tax problems of Florida. Crist, so far, has not taken on any issue that might jeopardize his popularity in his quest to become someone’s Vice President in the Presidential race. Most likely fit would be with Hillary Clinton, based on Crist’s decisions to date in Florida!
Anyone on the blog who is interested in cutting local taxes and government spending might want to consider joining up with a new group called Taxpayer Action Group of Marion County (TAG). The group of citizen activists meets the first and third Monday of each month at the main office of the Marion County Library, at the intersection of Southeast 25th Avenue and Silver Springs Boulevard. The meetings start promptly at 6:00 PM.
I wonder if Taxpayer Action Group of Marion County is organized such that it would be formally registered anywhere, and I wonder if any of the citizen activists in it would be known to the public from previous community involvement.
As a matter of library policy, with the exception of certain government meetings, all activities in the library meeting rooms must be open to the public.
While this Amendment would not directly benefit me, I’m going to support it for the following reasons: (1) I have some friends who own small businesses/property and this would help their tax situation, (2) I don’t trust that the SOH portability in the January 2008 Amendment will pass muster as to its constitutionality; the 1.35%gives some backup tax protection to anyone who wants to sell a home they have owned for quite awhile and buy another one, (3) our niece and her husband moved to Marion County about 1 ½ years ago, and like many young couples, want to buy their first home; this Amendment, compared to the current property tax system, would help reduce the property taxes at the time of purchase for first-time buyers coming to Florida.
I also sent in my petition and will get others to do the same.
On the education question: I’ll sound like a broken record. There is too much “fluff” in the academic curriculums and too many administrators. Tax cuts will help force some tough decisions and sort out what is really important to providing a quality education--and it isn’t just money.
Blogman--I can't get the petition to download.
What I see happening with all this tax stuff is that local officials are spending a lot of time running around accommodating decisions being made at the state level. I know a lot of people on this blog will say they will take a tax cut any way they can get it from wherever they can get it, but I think there is some shortsightedness going on, and have thought so for some time, in terms of who is making decisions that affect local government services.
This issue was raised by a former city manager from West Palm Beach when he spoke in Ocala recently. He said the activities in Tallahassee over the past couple of years have threatened home rule and that decisions that affect local government are being made by state level politicians too far removed from the people demanding services locally. I tend to agree with him. If you don’t like what local government is spending, then the focus should be on the accountability of local officials. What happened to devolving government power to the local level so it would be close to the people? A sound governing principle may be getting distorted in pursuit of a particular tax level result.
Brian,
I'll let you pay my property taxes, federal income taxes, sales tax and the myriad of other taxes we pay. Easy for you to criticize the actions of others as shortsighted when you are living with minimal personal impact of what others must face.
Mr. Creekbaum is on the money about local rule!
What we need locally are more elected officials like Randy Harris and we would be having less discussion about local spending and our tax bills. Bring back Randy and let's start electing a few more with his spending discipline. We wouldn't need to worry about what the Tallahassee group does then.
I believe Stan has a good comment, many of the solutions to education problems do not involve more money. Find out what teachers and others are trying to do about our broken K-12 public school system:
www.ReinventK-12.com
I think we all pay too little in taxes.
Raise property taxes by 10%, institute a state income tax, eliminate all the sales tax exemptions and increase the state sales tax to 10.5%, with an additional local option of up to 2.5%. Anyone not working and not paying any property or income taxes must pay a "living tax" of $100 a year. All of our budget problems would be solved.
Let's just vote to do it!
Now lets talk about harris' spending discipline. he put his bro to work in his friend, mike may's dept. he denoiated a terible deal to bail a developer out at horseshow lake. he negoiated the gneeral's $127,000 plus contract after he couldnot get his hand poicked candidate from mark theree in the job. lot of talk and little action behind the scenes.
bytheway, what hoppened to lund. turned radio on other day and he is gone? and that taxpayers group is his six or seven listeners.
What? Bring back harris? He blew through every enterprise funds' reserve account and now the current commissioners have the problems to solve! Randy funneled money to his friends and their projects. He wasn't a true conservative, just cheap for things he didn't want personally. He couldn't control state actions against local home rule anymore than anyone else could. Plus most of the state elected officials couldn't stand him. Ask them privately. randy is yesterday's news. brian's last email seems to be on target.
I have a suggestion for Mr. Creekbaum. If he is really interested in preserving local home rule, then he should stop running his mouth on the blog and get out and do something about it. How about leading the charge for a Constitutional Amendment that would take away the taxing policy powers of the State Legislature and have that revert to county and city governments? Now that would be some activity.
The problem is that it would not likely ever get on the ballot and if by some miracle it did, it would never get the 60% voter approval. There are just too many taxpayers who do not trust county government and want the Legislature to play a balance in controlling the tax and spend of local government. Mr. Creekbaum can trust the local yokels but I sure as hell don’t and want someone (legislature) to turn to when these fools go astray.
P.S.
My petition is in the mail this morning.
My petition is in the mail too. The ammendment reads very good, and I happen to like Rubio's approach compared to Crist.
Anyone wants a copy, send me their email and I will get them a clean copy they can then copy and give to their friends. -- pwf
Well it looks like Governor Charlie stepped in deep doo-doo when he cut a deal with The Seminole Indian Tribe, to do what they do best,the gambling business.
Seems that the tribe is continuing with the bad habits of their previous leader James Billie who was ousted after 22 years, in 2001, for lining his pockets.
The AP reports that tribal leaders are the subject of the Feds nosing around because the tribe has had there hands in the huge till they oversee.
One Council Member, Gary Bitner, has managed to grab over 160 million since 1999.
Now , of course these guys are due some entitlements, right. It's been easy to write their own fringe benefits by making withdrawals and expenditures under $10,000 which require no accountibily.
I suppose a good forensic accountant had no problem spotting this leakage,he probaly got migranes from all the 9's he saw on their books.
Can you imagine the forth coming rage from the Religious Right who oppose gambling.
Then, there is House Speaker Marco Rubio who is furious because the legislature didn't have it's say in the matter. Could it be that he isn't going to get a cut from the hundreds of millions that are forecast as annual revenues the tribe gets over the table and under the table. I remind readers that skimming is away of life for casinos and has been a problem in at least one state I know of.
I seriously doubt that the state can get an honest count from the tribe. They have repeatedly demonstrated their inclination to be involved in nefarious activitys.
Oh well, Charlie had our best interests at heart, did't he ?
Clayton Ellsworth
The media is scared to death of Marco Rubio!!
Watch how he gets hammered on every controversial issue and they give "Cristyqueer" a pass. It's awful, but to be expected.
Funny Creekbaum is so opinionated about the property tax situation in Florida. Especially, since there appears to be no Marion county record of him owning any property or paying any taxes. Go to the Tax Assessor’s internet location and check out what I’m saying. He’s just like several people I know who don’t pay any property taxes—but are in favor of sticking it to those who pay property taxes and sucking out all the benefits (roads, libraries, parks, etc) that the hard working taxpayers pay for. I say eliminate property taxes all together and raise the sales tax that way Creekbaum and other non-payers can start paying their fair share.
What else is new around here. It is always those who don't pay taxes or pay very little telling those who do how their tax money should be spent. It's time for a taxpayer revolt.
I couldn;t agree more, Marion County is paying dearly for the mistakes of Randy Harris. Good riddance and may he never serve in government again.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I realized years ago that my political activities would attract the prying eyes of hostile individuals, which is why, by design, my private life is largely uninspectable through publicly available records. The dead ends reported above confirm my success.
Stanley D. Hanson, who posts to the Politically Homeless blog using his first name (by his own admission to me) and through other means (by his own admission to me), falsely implies above knowledge of various aspects of my personal finances.
Most of what is posted to the Politically Homeless blog or discussed in local talk radio programming about my private life, including various attempts to undermine me through commentary on my alleged sexual orientation, employment status, personal finances, and much more, is made by people with no knowledge of these things with the aim of causing me injury and intimidating me into not exercising my constitutional rights of free speech. This is often done anonymously in an attempt to evade responsibility.
While it can be frustrating at times even for some of my allies, I don’t generally comment on the content of these attempts because doing so could be construed by a court as conceding a public interest in private matters.
My situation is much different from Stan’s. Stan holds multiple public positions that require full and public financial disclosure under Florida law (at least, until Stan’s flunky, Larry Cretul, rewrites the laws per Stan’s instructions). Since Stan is posting to the internet about his finances and seems to think it important that we know about them, I’ll point out that his latest financial disclosure is on file at the Supervisor of Elections office and available for public inspection and copying. It lists one piece of real property --- his luxury home in Country Club of Ocala. They have a nice clubhouse there. Thanks for the lunch, Stan.
I’ll have more to say later about the tax matters. Stan, when are we going to get back to discussing the presidential race on here along with the candidate Larry is supporting, Fred Thompson? You don’t have some reason you’re avoiding that topic and your predictions and mine, do you? Can you spell T-A-N-K-I-N-G?
As for Harris, who is no longer Chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Marion County, I wonder how much he would have lost by last year if Pat Howard had not manipulated the election in favor of the incumbents by holding back about utility problems until after the election. It’s really amusing to see people post about Harris being fiscally responsible. These posts remind me of Japanese soldiers who climbed out of caves long after World War II ended and had to catch up on the news. This just in: Harris screwed up on utilities big time.
Brian,
That post above about you is not from me. Frankly, I don't give a damn about whether you do or don't own property. So don't attribute that posting to me. There may be others who are interested, I'm not. But I do find your interest in my personal life strange. Who cares where I live!!! Other than you.
How do you know whether or not I'm supporting Fred Thompson? Yes, I have decided who to support and again, it is none of your business. Also, who Larry Cretul supports has nothing to do with who I'm going to support.
You are making a lot of false assumptions---shows how out of touch you are with my life!
I guess Mr. Creekbaum is telling us he is a devious property owner. I’m glad to hear he pays property taxes—or does he? Probably not.
Stan; Now that Brian Creekbaum has told me who you are and where you live, I'm coming to get you. Better lock your doors.
So brian lives with his mom at 103 NE 31ST TER and pays $454 in total annual taxes.
and who ever gives a damn about brians use of free speech. you are imagining things again. just go back in ur shell and take another long winter nap.
RE:
At 12:34 AM, November 27, 2007, brian creekbaum said...
"While it can be frustrating at times even for some of my allies" Brian allies, really?? You mean like the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and maybe the Tooth Fairy, or your old partner Pat Strait??
and RE:12:48 AM, November 27, 2007
However, Brian you are still right about Harris and his (lack) of fiscal responsibility.
Therefore; if I'm keeping score correctly it is now Stan 1-0; Brian 1-1 and Harris 0-1+.
Brian, a little advice Stan will always "eat your lunch" in any verbal or written confrontation so stick with attacking others that are easy pickings.
Stanley's luxury home;
7074 S.E. 12th Circle
Your point? What's up with the address stuff? I thought the subject was property tax relief.
I had a guy (illegally) trying to get me to sign a petition at the Wal Mart on Easy Street tonight. Told him I had already signed one and he gave me about 10 and asked me to give them to friends. They are out there.
Might have been PWF.
Good morning folks. Been gone for a while.
Someone called to tell me I have been on Easy Street.
Hate to prove you wrong, but I dont go on Easy Street at night, and was sitting at my computer working on a project for my wife last night.
But if you do need petitions, call me. I have some for you.
By the way, handing out petitions would NOT be illegal, in fact I plan to hand some out tonight. some by and I will be very happy to give you one.
Unfortunately, you will have list your name and address and actually sign your name. Anonymous will not work on a petition. Sorry. --pwf
I think voters are going to be too confused with the various tax proposals on the ballot and will just throw up their hands and not vote on any of them. I'm for one someone who is confused.
Just what we need, another proposal on tax reform that may appear on the November 2008 ballot!
Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission member Carlos Lacasa filed a proposal with the Commission yesterday. The proposal offers relief to both homestead and non homestead property owners.
Key elements of the plan include:
• preservation of the popular Save Our Homes amendment, which gives property owners a maximum 3% cap on the rate of growth of the
taxable value of homestead property;
• a "Super Exemption" of up to 50% of the just value of all residential property;
• a 5% cap on the rate of growth of taxable value for non-homestead property;
• a tangible personal property tax exemption of $25,000.00 for
businesses; and,
• undesirable budget cuts to education are substantially mitigated with a 3 year dedicated $.01 sales tax levy.
How about combining all the good parts of these several amendment proposals into one?
Blog Master
Wow!
Why don't we just dissolve all local governments and let the State provide for all our needs. They seem to spend every dime of taxes they extract from us!
Floridians for Property Tax Reform has endorsed the citizen petition drive to cap property taxes on all property at 1.35% of taxable value.
The group, which is aligned with House Speaker Marco Rubio, said it will help gather the 611,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot.
The group will turn over their database of supporters and merge it with the "Cut Property Taxes Now" referendum proponents which will make getting the 611,000 signatures significantly easier than both going it alone.
How are you sleeping at night Stan?
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