Floridians can't afford to fall for this homestead initiative scam
By MARTIN DYCKMAN
Published May 30, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Watch out for flying pigs, and for summer snowstorms here in Florida.
No kidding. Gov. Jeb Bush has finally met a tax cut that he doesn't like.
Since his election almost six years ago, Bush has embraced a steady progression of tax cuts that have saved taxpayers, as he said pridefully the other day, a cumulative $10.7-billion. Most of that has been for wealthy stockholders and businesses, though there have been several sales-tax holidays for the common folk.
Now that some people are promoting a tax cut for homeowners, however, Bush thinks Florida can't afford it.
He's concerned over a petition campaign to double the $25,000 homestead exemption. The state's numbers-crunchers say that would cost the schools, the counties and the cities some $2-billion a year.
The governor is right. Florida can't afford it.
Neither can the homeowners. They're being scammed by a wealthy couple who are trying to buy a U.S. Senate seat for the wife.
But to some people, perhaps many, the governor's positions will appear - to put it as politely as possible - a bit inconsistent.
This tax cut, you see, inevitably would mean increasing taxes on the business community. Joe and Jane Lunchbucket, on the other hand, might actually get a break.
Trouble is, Joe and Jane Lunchbucket could also get badly hurt. Especially if they rent the place where they live.
Here's how. Most of the cities, school boards and counties levy their taxes well short of the maximum rate, $10 for each $1,000 in assessed value, that the Constitution allows. So to avoid having to fire their teachers, police officers, firefighters and what have you, they would raise their tax rates.
The school boards would have no choice. The Constitution, as amended by another initiative two years ago, requires them to reduce class sizes. That means more teachers, not fewer. Is there $782-million worth of fat in Florida's school budgets? Anybody with good sense knows better.
Depending on the assessed value of your house, the higher rates could cost you more money than you'd save from the higher exemptions. So could higher "user fees" for water, sewers and garbage. God help you - the Public Service Commission couldn't - if your city is in the electric or gas business.
So the sponsors' claim that "every Florida homeowner will save $500 per year in Florida property taxes!" is untrue. It would be true only if every home were already assessed at $50,000 or more, if every home were taxed at the statewide average rate of 20 mills, and if it could be guaranteed that every taxing authority would swallow the loss without raising its tax rates.
Jeffrey and Karen Saull are the millionaire couple behind the campaign. One doesn't presumably accrete such wealth as they have without being terribly smart or incredibly lucky. If they are that smart, then they have to know that what they are promising homeowners is untrue. That would make them calculating liars. If they don't know, then they are colossal fools. Neither liars nor fools deserve to be followed when they are trying to lead Florida over a cliff.
Another whopper is the name of their organization, "Families for Lower Property Taxes." According to reports they filed with the secretary of state, the entire $1,175,055 contributed to the campaign to March 31 came from just four people. Three of them accounted for a total of $55. The other $1,175,000 was attributed to Karen Saull, who by no coincidence is one of the eight declared and duly qualified candidates in the no-runoff Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.
She may not win, and probably won't, but there is a greater chance that enough people to put it into effect will thoughtlessly sign and vote for the homestead initiative.
Higher property tax rates, needless to say, would be a double whammy for businesses, which don't get homestead exemption. Those businesses include every rented house, apartment and mobile home space in Florida. When taxes go up, so do rents.
That has always been one of the fundamental flaws in homestead exemption. It rewards people who own their homes at the expense of people who have to rent. Nothing can be done about that in the foreseeable future, but people of conscience should want to withhold their signatures and their votes from anything that would make the imbalance even worse.
There are 14 counties, all small, already taxing at the maximum 10 mill rate and seven more that are at nine mills or higher. They couldn't raise their rates to recover the loss and would have to beg the Legislature for help. So would several school districts, including Hernando, that are close to the lid. Overall, $2-billion might not strike some people as a lot of money, but it's more than 10 cents out of every property tax dollar that Florida's local governments collect.
It is nice to be on the governor's side for once. Please, please, please don't sign that diabolical petition.
