Property Tax Reform -- The Impossible Dream

For the past year I have watched with great interest our state "leaders" as they postured, posed, and pretended to be interested in reforming our broken property tax system.

The property tax system is broken in three ways, it is fundamentally unfair, it is complex to the point of absurdity, and it is impossible for the citizens to see how it operates and how it is administered.

It should be obvious to all by now that the Save Our Homes amendment has created inequities that should not be part of public policy. For next-door neighbors to pay dramatically different taxes on the same home is fundamentally wrong. Shifting the load from homesteads to investment, vacation, or commercial properties has no basis in rational thought either – it’s nice for people who own their own homes, but really an unjustifiable additional burden on everyone else.

In addition to being unfair the property tax system is so complex it defies understanding. Try to find someone who can explain how assessments are actually done and the millage rates are actually set and you’ll begin to see just how bad it is. Not to mention how the money is allocated after it’s collected.

Finally, the property tax system operates behind closed doors and citizens need not bother to make inquiry about how things work. Combined with our out of control politicians, we have put ourselves in the position of simply writing checks to pay for whatever our leaders and their cronies can dream up. Justification? Not required. Discussion and Debate? Not required. We may have government in the sunshine, but we still have our backroom deals. They’re just hidden better now.

Our Governor and our legislature have proposed various plans and established various committees – and all have failed to produce any meaningful results. The amendment placed on the ballot by our legislature was so badly written that the Supreme Court tossed it. The replacement is even worse, but we’re going vote on it anyway in January. The words of Nancy Reagan are just as powerful today as they were in the ‘80s and we should heed them now – “Just Say No!” to the amendment. It doesn’t address the unfairness, it doesn’t address the complexity (in fact, it adds to it) and it doesn’t make it easier to monitor.

Speaker Rubio has signed on to a petition effort to amend the constitution to limit property taxes to 1.35% of the “taxable value” of a property. This accomplishes nothing – if you limit the millage rate to 13.5 then the assessed values will simply be increased to cover the difference. Oh, and by the way, there are exceptions to the “limit” and it doesn’t cover property taxes used to pay for some government bonds. Want to be we’ll see a huge increase in the issuance of bonds? The 1.35% amendment is not the answer to our problem and we desperately need an answer.

In the past year the flow of people into Florida has reversed with more people moving out than are moving in. Why? People will no longer pay exorbitant taxes here when they can pay far less in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina. We are literally driving our citizens off their property and out of their homes.

So, what is the answer? Well when something is broken and can’t be repaired the only logical thing to do is replace it. And that’s what we can do by signing two petitions to place amendments on the ballot. One is to eliminate the broken property tax system altogether and replace the revenue with increases in other existing taxes. The second places a limit on the growth of spending (something we desperately need) and only allows growth in spending to increase at the same rate as the Consumer Price Index and the growth of population in the state. This only makes sense (which is one reason our politicians will oppose it) – why does the government need to raise its spending faster than inflation and the growth of the population. The amendment does allow for extraordinary events though – spending can grow faster if the reason is placed on the ballot and approved by the voters.

I support these two amendments and I ask you to read them. When you do I am sure you will join me and support this effort as well. You can see the petitions by clicking on these two links:

Abolish Property Taxes

and

Cap Spending Growth

Open them up, read them, and you’ll agree that they make sense and are a good solution to our tax problems. Print them, sign them, and give your friends and neighbors copies as well.

Thank you

Larry Ludwick
Apollo Beach, Florida