NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Over a decade ago the Save Our Homes amendment was passed to keep Floridians from being taxed to death on their property by greedy politicians.
This amendment was a good idea except for the fact that it did not protect everybody. Only people with homestead exemption were protected. The rest were left to the "tender mercies" of the politicians and the tax collectors.
After a decade or so, this lack of protection has led to the condition where people cannot afford to move to Florida, people can't afford to move to a new house or build a new house within Florida and new businesses are severely handicapped.
The obvious solution to this problem is to extend the original protection of save our homes to everybody including those evil people who move in from out of state, or move to new homes or build new homes and even the evil businesses.
The way to do this is to treat all property as if it were homesteaded and if it had been in existence at the beginning of save our homes.
The way to accomplish this is to estimate the ratio of the taxable value of homesteaded real estate to Market value of homesteaded real estate. Next the taxable value of non homesteaded real estate is calculated by multiplying the market value of the real estate by this ratio.
I would guess that this ratio is somewhere between 1/2 and 1/4. Once the new tax assessment is determined in this manner, the real estate in question will be treated as homesteaded property. For each piece of homesteaded property the taxable assessment is a matter of record.
The market value of the property can be estimated by a method such as the well known comparative market assessment. This does not necessarily have to be done for each and every piece of real estate an accurate estimate can be obtained through sampling techniques. This approach will not be perfect but it is much better than letting a portion of our population be taxed into oblivion.
The people who are so mistreated will find ways around this problem or leave the state much to our detriment. Attempts to rectify this problem will be resisted by people who think that it is good for government to be extremely "well fed" or by people who profit directly from government spending. Politicians are complaining that real reform is too difficult. These people remind me of people who claim they do not understand English when you ask them questions they don't want to answer.
The people who are so mistreated will find ways around this problem or leave the state much to our detriment. Attempts to rectify this problem will be resisted by people who think that it is good for government to be extremely "well fed" or by people who profit directly from government spending. Politicians are complaining that real reform is too difficult. These people remind me of people who claim they do not understand English when you ask them questions they don't want to answer.
Turning to the proposed reform of the property tax, note that they have a partial solution to part of the problem. By making the homestead exemption largely portable they have made it easier for people to move to a different house inside Florida and taken money out of the hands of greedy politicians.
To that extent it is a good idea but it does nothing for people who are moving into Florida . There is nothing in the bill to help businesses afford their property. With the passage of time we will see fewer people moving to Florida and a reduction in business activity. None of this is good for the people who now live in Florida despite the fact that some of them are opposed to the influx of people.
The increase in the homestead exemption from 25 to 50 thousand is inconsequential as far as fixing our basic economic problem is concerned. It is strictly political posturing. Before leaving this subject the reader should realize that there are several very bad ideas influencing some people's thinking.
The first bad idea is that Government should not be cut back. If the sight of bloated governments at all levels makes you feel good then you should in a state of ecstasy.
The second bad idea is that the school system needs more money. The fact is that the school system has too much money and that has hurt performance.
Bureaucrats are working themselves to death reading and writing memos. Worse yet, non teaching bureaucrats create extra, useless work for teachers creating forms to fill out, reports to write and meetings to attend. In Volusia County, we are spending $20,000 per student in the k-12 program.
You can verify this by going to the internet search and type in Volusia County school budget and then follow the trail. This can be done for other counties in Florida and you will be amazed to find that the actual spending is much larger than you had ever imagined.
The third bad idea is that we should discriminate against outsiders in tax matters. This is not only bad citizenship but also bad economics.
Any good solution to this problem will have to treat outsiders with the same consideration as insiders. In other words quit trying to get someone else to pay our tax bills.
Floridians are in general confused about the amendment. Some don't even know what it is all about.
The most informed person I talked to said he is voting for it because it does give mobility to homesteaded Floridians, takes money away from government, and the Daytona Beach News-Journal is against it.
Since there is some good in the proposed amendment I would say there is a slight gain to be had in passing it. I would not be excited by the vote outcome no matter which way it goes.
About the Writer:
Peter Mallory was co-publisher of Headline Surfer (originally called NSBNEWS.net when it was launched in April 2008) until mid-20012 when he abruptly retired due to illness and passed away. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, He grew up in New Smyrna Beach where he resided most of his life. He was widowed with two grown children and lived in New Smyrna Beach. He received his master's degree in engineering from MIT.