Posted by
Rich on Friday, February 01, 2008 7:09:53 PM
Well, Amendment 1 passed in Florida by an overwhelming majority.
As the Sarasota Herald-Tribune said in its editorial
The great government divide, "In Sarasota County, where voters have approved two local property-tax increases and a sales tax extension in the past two years, nearly 68 percent of the voters supported the constitutional amendment. In Manatee County, 62 percent of voters endorsed the amendment; in Charlotte, approval approached 78 percent."
The taxpayers have spoken loudly. Lower taxes!
Smaller more focused local government is good. We taxpayers can no longer afford local government that grows faster than our ability to pay for it. You and I make decisions each and every day on what we can afford to buy, so can government.
The editorial board reminds us, "When the economy hummed along and real estate values rose -- generating record tax revenues in the process -- opposition to
property taxes only simmered...But an economic downturn, especially in real estate, and political opportunism in Tallahassee turned the simmer into a boil."
Where are the no-growthers now? Hiding behind a bush? What will the new anti-growth members of the Venice City Council do now that voters have spoken?
Local governments, if they really want to increase tax revenues, must promote and sustain a healthy local economy - they must support growth. They must support growth by cutting impact fees, reducing government regulations, increase density, and support elimination of the onerous property tax system.
Finally, as
we said before we had three bites at the apple to fix our broken property tax system. We took our first big bite by passing Amendment 1. Now there are two more:
1.) Next have the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission put on the ballot in November constitutional amendments that eliminate or reduce the negative impacts of property taxes and shift the tax burden to a broader fairer sales tax. The McKay proposal is a good first step.
2.) Finally, at the upcoming 2008 session of the Florida legislature finish the work on fixing property taxes by protecting non-homesteaders or better yet eliminate property taxes all together.
Now is the time to contact the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission and tell them to end the onerous property tax and implement an expanded sales tax to support local government. This will put our local and state governments in sync on taxes, put the tax burden on the more equitable sales taxes and force government to think about keeping our economy strong and growing.
Please contact the Commission members today and tell them you fully support fixing our broken property tax system by eliminating it.
Go to this website to e-mail all of the Commission members.
The issue is not just getting local and state government in sync - it is getting local and state government in sync with us taxpayers.