A judge’s ruling that the property tax referendum language on the super-size exemption was unclear and misleading has forced the Florida legislature to confront the property tax issue again. Thank God!! I think this decision is a real blessing because will allow the Legislature to improve the flawed and complicated plan they approved in June, taking account of the many criticisms voiced since then.
Some old proposals seem to be back at the table. “Portability” of the Save Our home tax cap seems to under serious consideration now and seems to have bipartisan support. Portability would allow people to keep their tax cap, carrying tax-exemption savings from an old house to a new house and unblocking this real obstacle to sales. Other popular ideas are to call on cities and counties to make deeper cuts and cap them, and to revive House Speaker Marco Rubio’s plan to eliminate all homestead property taxes and replace them with a sales-tax increase.
There are also new options on the table. One of them proposes to allow homeowners to keep 50% or $250,000 of the first $500,000 of property valuation exempt from property tax.
The legislature has to recognize that what they passed in June was not good enough and it was certainly not simple. We really need a drastic change in property taxes to help revive the sales of new and existing homes.
Whatever the ultimate outcome, it is clear that something decisive and with real impact must be done quickly to reduce Florida property taxes and I do really hope that this time Tallahassee comes up with a plan that makes sense.