government
Florida Property Taxes - Will They, Won't They Pt. 3
06/15/07 10:52 Filed in: Property
Taxes
The new plan mentions nothing about rolling back values to 2003, and nothing about eliminating property taxes and supplementing them with a higher sales tax. Instead, we're left with a plan that gives you a choice: slightly reduce your property taxes, or stay with the 3% yearly increase cap of the current 'Save Our Homes' plan (insert thunderous applause here).
The new plan would save taxpayers only about $8 billion over five years, analysts said, and is expected to save the average homeowner 7 percent on tax bills this fall. But the $174 average first-year savings would climb to at least several hundred dollars per year for many homeowners if the expanded homestead exemption gains approval. Needing no voter approval, a $15.6 billion rollback of city and county property-tax collections also was approved by lawmakers Thursday.
Haven't had enough? Here are a few more articles for your reading pleasure:
Tax Cut; New Fight Looms - Orlando Sentinel
Legislature Passes Tax-Cutting Plan - Orlando WESH TV2
Florida Lawmakers Approve Tax Cut Bill - MyFOX Orlando
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Florida Property Taxes - Will They, Won't They Pt. 1
05/17/07 19:19 Filed in: Property
Taxes
Raise your hand if you're tired of waiting to hear
what the government is planning on doing about your
property taxes. Wow - everyone has their hands
raised.
Well, here's another edition of the Florida Property tax update - a new segment we're calling "Will They, Won't They." According to today's Orlando Sentinel, the House-Senate committee discussing Florida property values still hasn't reached any conclusions (no big surprise there). The big news is they've tentatively agreed on a method to use - expand existing exemptions, such as homestead, and create new ones for non-homestead properties.
This news followed and earlier update from the House Democrats touting their plan for property tax reform, which would exempt 50% of a home's value if it's homesteaded, and 25% for non-homestead properties up to a max of $250,000 for larger commercial properties.
The House Republicans have a different suggestion with more dramatic exempt amounts.
It seems the main thing holding everything up is the amount of the exemption. A meeting of the joint House-Senate will take place on Monday, May 21st, at 1pm in Tallahassee, and another interim meeting scheduled before the full Legislature returns for a special session Jun 12-22.
As always, we'll keep you up to date on this battle. Tell us your thoughts in the comments section, or better yet, call Bill Nelson (our Senator) at (202) 224-5274, and tell him your thoughts, then post what HE said in the comments.
Well, here's another edition of the Florida Property tax update - a new segment we're calling "Will They, Won't They." According to today's Orlando Sentinel, the House-Senate committee discussing Florida property values still hasn't reached any conclusions (no big surprise there). The big news is they've tentatively agreed on a method to use - expand existing exemptions, such as homestead, and create new ones for non-homestead properties.
This news followed and earlier update from the House Democrats touting their plan for property tax reform, which would exempt 50% of a home's value if it's homesteaded, and 25% for non-homestead properties up to a max of $250,000 for larger commercial properties.
The House Republicans have a different suggestion with more dramatic exempt amounts.
It seems the main thing holding everything up is the amount of the exemption. A meeting of the joint House-Senate will take place on Monday, May 21st, at 1pm in Tallahassee, and another interim meeting scheduled before the full Legislature returns for a special session Jun 12-22.
As always, we'll keep you up to date on this battle. Tell us your thoughts in the comments section, or better yet, call Bill Nelson (our Senator) at (202) 224-5274, and tell him your thoughts, then post what HE said in the comments.
Florida Property Tax Reform Update
05/10/07 12:21 Filed in: Property
Taxes
I'm very short on time today, but I wanted to make
sure and give you an update on the tax reform
session. The Associated Press finally released a
statement today regarding the reforms, and instead of
a recap, I'm just going to post the entire release.
The following is the release from the AP:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – May 10, 2007 – House
and Senate leaders Wednesday formally called a
special session on property tax relief for June 12-22
and appointed a joint committee to draft proposed
legislation in the interim.
Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, and House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, had announced plans for the special session last week after the chambers were unable to sort out their differences on the issue with only two days left in the 60-day regular 2007 session. It ended last Friday.
The joint committee is scheduled to meet May 21 to review and discuss options and June 4 to present proposed legislation.
Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who will head the House side of the joint committee, said he has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, since the regular session and they plan to continue their conversations before the first committee meeting.
“We’ve got sort of an open line of communication,” Cannon said. “We’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
Cannon declined to disclose details of that direction.
Lawmakers are trying to find a solution to soaring tax bills resulting mainly from rising property values. They also are looking at inequities in the system that have resulted in some taxpayers getting bills many times higher than neighbors with similar properties.
Pruitt and Rubio called the special session to deal exclusively with property taxes, and they have been adamant that lawmakers should focus only on that issue.
Gov. Charlie Crist has said he may expand the session, though, to include auto insurance and children’s health insurance issues, but he has not yet made a decision.
Florida’s no-fault auto insurance law will expire Oct. 1 unless the Legislature passes a law to continue it.
If the law expires, crash victims may have to file lawsuits against at-fault motorists to get their medical expenses paid. The existing system pays the first $10,000 of those expenses regardless of who is at fault. Insurers say the system is so rife with fraud it should be allowed to expire.
Some lawmakers have urged Crist to include legislation simplifying the state’s KidCare children’s health insurance program. Advocates say its complexity has caused thousands of children to needlessly go without coverage.
During the regular session, both chambers offered tax-cutting plans that included rolling back taxes to a prior year and then capping them with allowances for growth and inflation or increases in personal income.
Those plans differed on the details, but the House also passed a Republican-backed proposal that would have slashed or eliminated property taxes on primary homes, known as homesteads, in exchange for increasing the statewide 6 percent sales tax to as much as 8.5 percent.
Most House Democrats and senators of both parties strenuously objected to the tax swap.
The chambers also were far apart in taxpayer savings. When negotiations broke off, the Senate was at about $20 billion over five years and the House at nearly $50 billion in the same span.
Crist has entered the debate with his own $34 billion proposal, essentially splitting the difference, but without a tax swap. The governor said he has been calling lawmakers since the regular session ended to push his plan.
Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, and House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, had announced plans for the special session last week after the chambers were unable to sort out their differences on the issue with only two days left in the 60-day regular 2007 session. It ended last Friday.
The joint committee is scheduled to meet May 21 to review and discuss options and June 4 to present proposed legislation.
Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who will head the House side of the joint committee, said he has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, since the regular session and they plan to continue their conversations before the first committee meeting.
“We’ve got sort of an open line of communication,” Cannon said. “We’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
Cannon declined to disclose details of that direction.
Lawmakers are trying to find a solution to soaring tax bills resulting mainly from rising property values. They also are looking at inequities in the system that have resulted in some taxpayers getting bills many times higher than neighbors with similar properties.
Pruitt and Rubio called the special session to deal exclusively with property taxes, and they have been adamant that lawmakers should focus only on that issue.
Gov. Charlie Crist has said he may expand the session, though, to include auto insurance and children’s health insurance issues, but he has not yet made a decision.
Florida’s no-fault auto insurance law will expire Oct. 1 unless the Legislature passes a law to continue it.
If the law expires, crash victims may have to file lawsuits against at-fault motorists to get their medical expenses paid. The existing system pays the first $10,000 of those expenses regardless of who is at fault. Insurers say the system is so rife with fraud it should be allowed to expire.
Some lawmakers have urged Crist to include legislation simplifying the state’s KidCare children’s health insurance program. Advocates say its complexity has caused thousands of children to needlessly go without coverage.
During the regular session, both chambers offered tax-cutting plans that included rolling back taxes to a prior year and then capping them with allowances for growth and inflation or increases in personal income.
Those plans differed on the details, but the House also passed a Republican-backed proposal that would have slashed or eliminated property taxes on primary homes, known as homesteads, in exchange for increasing the statewide 6 percent sales tax to as much as 8.5 percent.
Most House Democrats and senators of both parties strenuously objected to the tax swap.
The chambers also were far apart in taxpayer savings. When negotiations broke off, the Senate was at about $20 billion over five years and the House at nearly $50 billion in the same span.
Crist has entered the debate with his own $34 billion proposal, essentially splitting the difference, but without a tax swap. The governor said he has been calling lawmakers since the regular session ended to push his plan.