A Slap-Dash Amendment
As is typical of the Florida legislature, there’s always time to screw things up but never time to to actually fix them. So it goes with Amendment 1 on the ballot on January 29th, along with the possibly meaningless Presidential primary vote. Even if your vote for a Presidential candidate doesn’t count, your vote on Amendment 1 most definitely will.
Republicans will vote for this turkey reflexively because “it’s a tax cut,” without really reading it to find out who’s taxes are being cut and by how much. The Florida division of elections has a PDF of the Property tax initiative, which is actually the existing law with all of the changes made by the initiative superimposed.
Howard Troxler in the St. Petersburg Times wonders: Better than nothing; is that good enough?. I don’t think so, because the Florida tax system needs to be rebuilt, not simply patched. Governments need to be able to budget based on long term financing, and that isn’t possible. This was slapped together before the “subprime tsunami” hit, and a number of local governments have only recently found out that, thanks to the state’s investment schemes, they have less money than they assumed.
The Sun-Sentinel did a piece on South Florida reaction, with the supporters saying the local governments just need to “reduce waste and live within their means,” and the local governments saying that their costs, especially personnel costs, have been rising, and the only way to “live within their means” is to cut services.
I’ve been through this many times in many places, and I can tell you for a fact that routine maintenance of the infrastructure is one of the first things to go because the effects aren’t felt for years. The effects will be greatly reduced life cycles on buildings and equipment, requiring replacement at a greater expense than the routine maintenance.
One of the most absurd complaints I hear is that the cost of living is too high, and government needs to reduce taxes to balance this. Excuse me, but the government is buying goods and services at exactly the same elevated prices as everyone else. Government employees are paying the same taxes as everyone else. As the cost of living goes up, the cost of government goes up – it’s called the market.
Everyone should make their own determination, but I’m voting against this thing because it wasn’t thought out. It is an idea that was born in the sales tax boomlet following the 2004 hurricane season, when the state had a lot of revenue, and we are now in a recession [although it won’t be officially declared for a couple of months]. There is no reason to change the tax code in haste, and every reason to reform the system.
7 comments
well, i was reflexively going to vote against just because the republicans are pushing it.
also, you’ve saved me from spending time composing a blog post about the articles i found here on amendment 1 [and how dare they appropriate the first amendment for their shenanigans].
They need to fix the idiotic tax system in this state and rewrite the whole thing so that it makes sense and is fair to everyone. They have distorted the system over the years by passing exemptions for various groups which has shifted the cost of government to everyone else.
My rent is going up on February 1st because of a property tax increase, so I’m affected by it, just like everyone else, and rental property is already taxed more than other property, so I would like some relief, but do it right.
They still haven’t fixed the election law. They patched it, but it still contradicts itself because of the haphazard way they do things.
If the split the tax and lay a higher rate on the land and less on the improvements, it wouldn’t drive up rent.
My increase is based solely on the land value, because the sale price would be predicated on tearing down everything currently on the property and building new. Your plan would make rents even higher for mid-range and rentals in this area where land is at a premium.
In this area anything 20 years and older is almost always bulldozed when the property changes hands.
[…] Why Now? – A Slap-Dash Amendment: “As is typical of the Florida legislature, there’s always time to screw things up but never time to to actually fix them. So it goes with Amendment 1 on the ballot on January 29th… your vote on Amendment 1 most definitely will [count]. Republicans will vote for this turkey reflexively because ‘it’s a tax cut,’ without really reading it to find out who’s taxes are being cut and by how much.” […]
Florida’s working families need property tax relief now. We heard all of the same arguments against the Save Our Homes amendment in 1992. The sky didn’t fall and it will not happen when Amendment 1 is approved. I am pro-union and not anti-government but we need to keep in mind that government exists for people not the other way around. Working and middle class families are being driven out of Florida by the high cost of living. Important people like teachers, police officers, nurses and firefighters cannot afford to own a home in many areas of Florida. The skyrocketing of property taxes is a major part of the problem and that is why we need Amendment 1.
The tax system needs fixing, but this amendment doesn’t fix, it slaps on a bandage. If it passes it will be years, if ever, before the real revision is done. Amendment 1 doesn’t address the underlying problem – the way we finance government in Florida. Let’s fix it and stop patching.