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Jackie Colson-Miller

Jackie Colson-Miller, CIPS
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Florida Property Tax Reform…Dead…For Now!

The Florida Legislature has reached an impasse on the proposed Property Tax Reform. There are many opinions on this subject, so I am going to offer mine. Based on the high cost of Homeowners Insurance, and Flood Insurance, that Floridians have been faced with, some drastic measures are needed, with respect to lowering our property taxes.

Here is my proposal for Property Tax Reform:

1. Lower the millage rate to a maximum of .05% for homestead properties, with counties having the option of a lower millage rate.

2. Increase the Homestead Exemption to $150,000, with an annual increase of the Homestead Exemption in keeping with the CPI. This may have to be adjusted in counties where the average price of a home is less than $100,000. Mobile home prices need to be eliminated from the average single family home price. Average home value figures are too misleading, as mobile homes are figured into the average.

3. Increase Sales Tax 1.5%

4. Eliminate the Save our Homes cap , which has contributed to the property tax inequity, and reassess all properties.

5. Second homes/investment properties are taxed at 1% millage rate.

6. I am also, not opposed, to slot machines in strategic locations. There is plenty of gambling in Florida, on the Indian Reservations, so I dont understand the opposition to adding slot machines to other, existing, pari-mutual locations. Residents in the Principalite of Monaco pay NO property taxes. Gambling supports the country. Anyone who has traveled to Monaco can attest to the fact that it is a beautiful, well-run country with a high level of services and little crime. What can we learn from them???

This proposal helps the lower-priced property owners, and spreads the property tax among all homeowners. Renters/non-homeowners will reap the benefits of lower rents, since the landlords/investors will not continue to raise rents based on annual increases in property taxes.

We dont need to hear any more griping from local governments about how cutting our property taxes will cut our basic services. Those are scare tactics designed to deflect the fact that government spending has gotten out of control. The bottom line is that increased property values have fattened the government coffers and they have spent too much money on things OTHER than police, fire and schools. In Tampa, we can talk about the Trolley, the Arts, Special Tax Districts, etcgovernment spending at its finest. How about fixing our potholes and flooding in South Tampa? Anyone who has ever worked in corporate America, or for a governmental agency, knows that every department spends every dollar allocated to it, so they can justify increased spending for the following fiscal year.

So, thats my proposal, for whats its worth. Do you have a better idea?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Florida Real Estate, Property Taxes in Florida, Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Florida Property Tax Reform…Dead…For Now!”

  1. Edward Gelina says:
    May 2, 2007 at 6:10 pm

    THere are some negative consequences to eliminating property taxes especially for the younger generation in that there could be insufficient funds for the road construction and other needs of the State. Personally I am in favor of it since I am older and am more concerned over the short term than the long term

  2. Ines Hegedus-Garcia says:
    May 2, 2007 at 11:01 pm

    Hello Jackie – oh what these taxes will do to us? The bottom line is that SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAPPEN!! I am pro no property taxes and increasing sales tax, althought anything will help. They have us on pins and needles don’t you think?

  3. Mary Pope-Handy says:
    May 3, 2007 at 12:22 am

    Hi Jackie, This is such an interesting post. The way taxes are figured in FLA is much different than in CAL. We do not really have a homestead exemption worth discussing. There’s no “mileage” issue here either. Our sales tax is 8.25% in Santa Clara County – not sure what yours is there.

    I DO know that here, our public schools were among the best in the nation in the 60s. In the 70s we passed Proposition 13, which did a rollback on property taxes – which were rising too fast and creating an undue hardship on people.

    Unfortunately, the long-term fallout of that has been that California public schools have fallen to the bottom of the heap. They had been among the best and now are among the worst. And the lack of funding appears to be the culprit.

    I don’t have an answer – our taxes HAD been too high and I recall my parents actually moving to cheaper digs specifically due to the tax burden. At the same time, our schools got trashed due to lack of funding.

    All I can say is best of luck!! I hope you get the reform without the fallout.

  4. Jeff Long says:
    May 3, 2007 at 6:41 am

    Some excellent points, but Point 4 is questionable. If we remove the bar for Save our Home and all properties are taxed on assess values, then the people who have been in their homesteaded properties for many years will likely see an increase. The people are generally seniors, on fixed incomes or low income families.

    I say increase sales tax (people will purchase, and since Florida is a tourist state, the revenue will come from outside as well as inside the state. AND add Gambling (but don’t dog ear the funds like they did the Lottery ), If people find the want or need to gamble, why should we not be making money off that industry. Combined this would be more than enough to suppliment property taxes to an extent that your aforementioned points will work. Best Regards Jeff L.

  5. Fred Hauck says:
    May 3, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Hi Ms Sizzle,

    Property taxes as well as rising insurance costs will make the state of Florida too expensive to live in for a lot of people. No wonder the housing market in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area, is spiraling down.

  6. Dale says:
    May 21, 2007 at 8:46 am

    Millage rates need to be adjusted down to a level which provides the 2003 tax base (plus 3% per year and plus some extra for the schools). The local governments can and should reduce their spending to that level. Most local govt’s have increased tax revenues by over 100% in the last four year without substantial increases in service. They are further complaining that it would be impossible to provide police and fire services needed if they are required to cut by just 10%. Let them cry, but they don’t have a leg to stand on. Also, let them cut their salaries back to 2003 level (plus 3% per year) and cut the fat for non essential progarms. Note: I read about one local government where they recently voted themselves a raise which is three times their previous salary.

  7. Carnival of Project Blogger - Week 1 Winners! | Searching Solutions says:
    September 18, 2008 at 11:12 am

    [...] Florida Property Tax Reform…Dead…For Now! By: Jackie [...]

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