As I write this, the Florida Legislature is poised to pass a bill allowing a constitutional amendment of another $25,000 tax exemption for homestead properties. If approved by 60% of the voters, counties and cities will see a shortfall of $750,000,000 in the first year going to over $800,000,000 in a few years. Where do we make this up in our budgets? This unfunded mandate will result in businesses and vacation homes taking on more and more of the real estate tax burden. This makes Florida less competitive and friendly toward business and 2nd home buyers.
This is bad idea for several reasons. It is an unfunded mandate on localities by the state. They are giving a tax cut by the worst possible means because it does not result in equal treatment for all citizens and businesses. Tallahassee is not taking any money from their coffers. If they want to give the citizens a tax break, why not take it out of the state’s amount of sales tax collected and rebate the $750,000,000 directly to homeowners….a check sent from the State of Florida directly to you.
That won’t happen because the pols in Tallahassee would then have less money to give to their crony capitalist friends in big business, labor and agriculture. It is easy to bully local government because they can. The legislature and governor are arguing over billions of dollars. I am just trying to find a few thousand to pay a police officer. For, make no mistake, it is local governments that pay for police and fire, street lights and sanitation with taxes. What would you rather have…your money pay for a faraway bureaucrat or a local E.M.T? This is your choice in a nutshell.
If we have less revenue, a decision will have to be made on where to spend those diminished resources. Certain services will have to be provided (e.g., Water and Police), but others like Parks and Recreation will be curtailed. And, as time goes on, through attrition a fire fighter won’t be replaced. All the while, the pols in Tallahassee will tell you that they gave you a tax cut.
When you increase the homestead exemption, fewer homeowners contribute any money to the services they demand. We currently have 65% of the residents in Stuart paying no tax except the Fire Fee. Not only is this fiscally unsustainable, it is also civicly wrong. People have no skin in the game. They can demand services, and weak bureaucrats and elected officials will continue to provide them…until they can’t any longer.
For a healthy democracy, everyone needs to participate by voting but also by paying. There is no free ride. It is easy to vote yourself a tax cut. What this means is more than a tax cut. It is also a cut in the quality of life for yourself and your neighbor…your children and your parents. As Floridians, we have been eager to think that services don’t have to be paid for in order to be received. That someone else will pick up the tab. We can have everything and pay nothing for it.
You know why Tallahassee pols need to give you tax cuts? It is because they provide very little else. Even when we vote to have clean water and rivers, they use the money to feather their friends’ nests. They have an $83 billion budget, and they are keeping it all. Their tax cuts come at the expense of local government. Our city needs to keep the lights on and the streets safe. That costs money. Next time you need a cop, call Florida Department of Law Enforcement and see if there is a response.