That is a great idea and obvious soloution. It would be nice if all states had something like that to limit the increases.

Simon, In New Jersey we can only dream about Florida property taxes.I Live in a 2100 sq. ft townhouse assessed at  180,000 worth about 315,00 in this market . My Property taxes are 5300 and I live in the best town in the county for taxes. Get into some counties and 10000 a year is average.

Simon,

We had a client contact us yesterday because is mortgage payment increased and it has been less than a year since he purchased the home. His rate is fixed, but his escrows are what went up....WHY, because his property taxes on the newly constructed home came in at $4,200.00 a year for a home which cost him $175,000.00. That was OUTRAGEOUS. I've seen homes purchased at $1MM with lower tax assesments. I couldn't believe how high his taxes were.

Sean Allen

Simon - thanks for the heads up on this - sounds good to me - and I will let others know too. The industry is hurting because of the uncertainty of the Florida tax situation and this looks like a great option. One of the main reasons I like it is because it does not involve math... Unfortunately whenever you bring math into the explanation, you see heads nod back and forth, accompanied by the blank look... that is what I saw wrong with the 200-500- whatever plan and the current plan with its 10% cap is not enough for the investor to be excited about. I also like the increase is sales tax and abandonment of property taxes - but with Florida being such a large and diverse state, I am not sure this would work as well as an assigned limit.

Al -Growth is Florida's number one industry. Without meaningful relief growth is likely to reverse in the coming years and that will strangle this State.

Hugh - the answer for yu is simple! Move to Florida and help me reduce property taxes here!

Sean - The more money we can take away from Government, the better off we will all be!

Richard - I couldn't agree with you more about the math thing. These things have to be easy to understand. As for the 10% cap - I think that is a HUGE number which will actually drive investors away - not just keep them on the fence. I still find it hard to believe that the Florida Association of Realtors is throwing $1m of OUR money to support this meaningless measure.

Simon  - I agree - what is FAR thinking anyway.. I would like to see how the other Florida Realtors are thinking on your proposal, the use of the FAR funds, and their solutions. As you know the time is coming quickly and we as an industry, who have been vocal for so long about our situation, SHOULD BE supporting something that shows promise and can be believed.

Richard - I'm truly unsure about what FAR is thinking. I did interview Nancy Riley on my radio show a week or so ago and was shocked at the arrogance of some of her answers - particularly those aimed at my listeners who had taken the time to call in to talk to her.

Simon - Unfortunately I am thinking 'Political Insulation' is working at that level, and not for the obvious good of the membership they represent. If that were not the case, why is the $1M being spent to promote the idea and the membership is saying " what are you thinking ". But that is just my current opinion, and I am curious as to others take on the situation. We have lots of knowledgeable, well known, influential, and not shy Florida bloggers here - what is their input? Clock is ticking ....

There was a point in that interview where she said "of course we didn't ask each individual Realtor" and my response to that is "why not?" We have the technology to put a poll on the Florida Realtors website. It's not even advanced technology. So the answer must be somewhere else. Sometimes I think they have personal political agendas. Maybe she will be making a run for something soon now that she is out of office.

Thank you for making us aware of this petition. I went to the website signed up and forwarded the link to my friends in Florida! Something's got to be done to provide adequate relief. hope this works!

Thanks for signing and forwarding Armando. If we can get this on the ballot and the voters approve it, i think it will bring real relief.

Simon,  I totally agree with you, especially with them saying "we delivered tax relief and now we're done".  FAR's reasoning as that with ORRA is that this will help stimulate sales because of the portability aspect.  Unfortunately, that is no where near enough for the property owners of Florida. 

Marc - the portability aspect has problems of its own. It will be great in a normnal market, but it isn't going to stimulate this market. So let's say you have built up $200,000 of tax savings. Well that would certainly encourage you to move. One problem. You have to sell YOUR home first! Iactually fear that this amendment if passed will create more listings, driving our inventory up and therefore our prices down. SIGN THE PETITION!

My wife and I have already sent in our petition.

I stopped home during lunch today, and we received some mail.  A paid political ad with a photo of a firefighter and a policeman on it.  It said something like Vote No on Amendment 1 - if not police, fire, and school services will be forced to shut down and cut way back.

Ads like this makes me think that if Amendment 1 does not pass, that the cities and counties are going to say that the people really don't want tax cuts otherwise they would have voted to cut them. I know the Florida League of Cities has the position that any property tax cuts are a bad thing for Florida.

It is a tough issue all around.

There's no question that there are other issues to be dealt with, but the thing is that if we don't protect and indeed encourage our growth, then the rest won't matter. I like the 1.35 plan because I think it will encourage growth which will in itself bring more revenue to the State.

Simon I totally agree with you.  With so many of our jobs dependent on government spending, it is easy for the uninformed to argue against a property tax cap.  Without some form of government reform ( budgets and spending) it is very difficult to get meaningful tax relief.  However without tax relief the only way government can exist at these levels of spending are for tax increases, which most politicians are reluctant to vote for in an election year.  So the next easiest target is for fee, and building impact increases. (Lake County).  Which are regressive in nature because they discourage growth.  Without some growth government cannot operate on an escalating budget in an era of declining property values which will cause lower property tax assessments, as they have for the past several years.  We need the 1.35 plan to help cap local, and county governemt spending. 

Thanks for your comments Jim. We are on the same page here.

Simon,  Firstly, I knew about this a while ago.  Secondly, you asked a question about FAR's reasoning and I gave it to you.  I wasn't disputing the situation, but thanks for the lesson anyway!

Marc - the written word can sometimes be misunderstood. I wasn't trying to lecture you in any way whatsoever. Just explaining - perhaps for others - the problem with FAR's reasoning.

I have heard they want to increase the property homestead exemption to $50,000....

Ya think that will help??

;-)

Simon - Marco Rubio was all over the CBS4 (South Florida) news at 5 and 11 with the petition signing - so the word is getting out thru the media also.

Alexander - that was what the Governor got elected on!

Richard- strange thing about Rubio is that he is pushing for this; his desire to abolish property taxes for homesteaded property completely AND Amendment One. The guy needs to make a choice.

Maybe - but isn't he the one that first started the 2.5% increase in sales tax ??  and he seems to be the ONLY one that does not think the current proposal is worthwhile. So he is the ONLY one I see that is keeping a new approach in play.  The local board and Broward property Appraiser is going tomorrow to support a rally for Amendment One with the Govenor.  Maybe you need to get the 'new technology' out and show them how to contact each individual Realtor to get the real numbers on this issue, otherwise we can expect apathy and the media to drive us to the final destination.

Ok - Today I learned something more and probably need to pass it along.

Amendment one  - the Gov likes it and the FAR and the property appraisers.

If it passes then it will help the portability issue and people with homestead will be able to move better from a home they bought 10+ years ago, and even though the market has chipped away at the escrow they had a few years ago. the properties that they might downsize to have also dropped in value and so when they move and allowed to take the portability then the whopping tax circumstance is easier for them and those properties may begin to move.

On the Amendment ONe and the 1.35% issue - they are NOT really competing, which is the point that I missed completely,,,, sorry  but I am here to rectify the oversight,, if I may.

The Amendment One was the legislatures answer to the issue.

The 1.35% is a citizen bases answer and if enough signatures are found then it will be on the NOVEMBER ballot, and I now look at it as a Part 2 to the Tax problem. Amendment One passes and the long timers have been eased with the tax burden, and now 1.35% comes along and helps the new homeowner and the others, who were not helped by Amendment One. 

So it looks like it will take this year to start us out of the rut we find ourselves in  - but I now understand the 1.35 is NOT an alternative plan to Amendment One - it is a possible Part 2 to the Tax Solving Problem.

Perhaps others have missed that point also and so I put this out here for others to think about.

Richard - you are correct - Amendment One and the 1.35% plan are not competing. Unfortunately enough signatures will not be gathered by the end of January and so the House and Senate will have to agree to put the 1.35% plan on the ballot in November. And this is where the problem with approving Amendment One comes in. If it gets approved, the legislature will in my opinion NOT back any other tax cutting plan.

Simon-  Today is the the 18th and not the 28th !  This post began on the 4th of this month.. Why so grim and pessi about the signatures.. Yes they need money and more signatures, but the race is only half run.

The power of the internet is that it is quick and IMO the education has not been adequate in the presentation. Like I said, I realized this today, and maybe others were confused also. I think on the 28th we can begin saying too bad, not today. Let's pump a little more life into the idea anyway and see where it goes.

My concern was just what you said in your last sentence ' If it gets approved, the legislature will in my opinion NOT back any other tax cutting plan. '  and that may happen, and if so, then it may just demonstrate they we give up tooo early in a fight for an idea that might just help all of us.

Don't get me wrong Richard. I am not giving up at all. Last I heard there were 75,000 signatures - but the leaves more than half a million to collect in around two weeks.

I will say Simon - that no matter what time I post, I can usually expect a timely response from you ! And isn't that just the point - with electronic signatures, and petition signing and speed of getting a message out.. it could be the 28th and still the people for it could have its voice heard and counted.  No waiting for the mailman to deliver the ballots.  I say that IF the proponents of the 1.35 want the idea to grow- there are powerful free ways of getting the message out. The educating of the public on the idea can be done as surely and quickly as another pic of Britney or Paris can buzz around for all to see and comment on.

sex sells  - we know that - now it is just up to the campaign ad people to connect the dots to get to the public with an acceptable vehicle to get the word out.

There is a YouTube video!