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Today's Letters: On property taxes, House takes a responsible path

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published April 20, 2007

Good, bad and ugly tax reform April 18, editorial 

To call the House sales tax proposal "irresponsible" is just flat-out wrong in so many ways. For one, taking on this issue and proposing something new, which might actually work, is one of the most responsible things any Legislature has done in Florida in decades. The fact that the new sales tax system would be cheaper to run, easier to manage and adjust and much fairer to everyone, is far from irresponsible.

I personally would rather that they get rid of all property taxes on private residences, whether it's a first, second or third home (and yes, the home I live in is the only one I own). How much money do we waste on appraising properties, mailing out tax bills, trying to collect unpaid taxes, taking people's homes when they don't pay, reappraising houses for people who challenge assessments or make home improvements? It just doesn't make any sense.

I also don't see how a sales tax increase would adversely affect the poor. If you make $20,000 or less a year, nearly 90 percent of your income goes for housing, food and basic necessities like your utility bills, all of which are not subject to the sales tax. If we keep the once-a-year sales tax holiday for items under $50, the people in that category would pay very little sales tax at all.

James Leonard, Largo

Senate offers little

There is no accountability anymore. The word certainly was not included in recent talk about property tax reform.

I have been to quite a few property tax forums and have listened attentively, but I have always come away with a sense of futility. I have seen the Senate's plan and have listened to it being discussed, and I can honestly say it's the nearest thing to nothing I have come across. The Senate's rollback is only to 2005 levels and offers little if anything immediate to alleviate the tax pain to the average homeowner.

We need to use the House plan, which rolls back rates to 2001, which is before the rapid appreciation took place on our homes.

Perhaps real reform will eventually take place and the House and Senate will get together and compromise, but don't count on it. There are just too many lobbyists in Tallahassee to get anything really done.

David Simpson, St. Petersburg

Standing with Rubio

I was one of the hundreds of overtaxed Florida homeowners who made the trip to Tallahassee on Tuesday to stand with House Speaker Marco Rubio in his efforts to restore some semblance of fairness and equality to Florida's broken property tax system.

While we were picnicking on the Old Capitol building lawn, senators were tossing us a bone, offering a rollback of taxes to 2005 levels coupled with a one-year freeze. Okay, then what? It appears the vision of the Senate doesn't extend beyond that point.

Adding insult to the injury being suffered by recent home purchasers and nonhomesteaded property owners, the Senate offers another nice reward to long-term owners with the idea of Save Our Homes portability. It is unconscionable that the Senate can even consider bestowing further benefits on the most favored class of homeowners while failing to address the outrageous inequities being shouldered by the rest of us!

Florida's system of property taxes has made me a second-class citizen. I pay $3,500 more per year than my neighbor on equally valued properties. This is money I should be saving to pay for my 12-year-old daughter's college education.

The speaker's plan is the only one that attempts to repair the huge inequities in our broken system of property taxation.

Robert Hendryx, Valrico

Give us a break

I am a retired senior. I am buying my own home and live here in Florida year round. I moved here because of the weather, and to be near my mother.

The assessed value on my condo went up 50 percent last year. The tax cap will help, but I could sure use a tax cut. Social Security gave me a whopping 2 percent raise this year.

I was ecstatic when I heard the proposed House plan for a tax decrease. Then I heard the Senate's plan. There is nothing in that plan for me. It says that I can move and carry my tax cap. I am not moving, so what's in it for me?

It's going to give new home buyers a $50,000 homestead exemption. Again, nothing for me.

It's going to exempt the first $25,000 of business equipment from tangible property taxes. What's in it for me?

It's going to limit commercial property assessments to current use. Again, nothing for me.

Can the senators give me one reason why I should support such a plan?

Having an increase in the sales tax and no property tax is a good idea. And House Speaker Marco Rubio speaks for the seniors in Florida. We may not need a increase of 2.5 percentage points in the sales tax, but maybe 1 1/2 or 2 percent would do the trick.

Jim Bardsley, St. Petersburg

Ax Save Our Homes

Whatever happened to fair and equitable taxation? The Save Our Homes tax cap created a large inequity in residential property taxes, as many of us knew it would when it passed.

The Legislature is proposing a number of property tax relief programs, but none have considered the elimination of Save Our Homes to put everyone on an equal footing.

It's not a popular idea, but at least we would all be taxed the same as our neighbors for the same services. Controls on local government taxes would still be needed.

Jim Babcock, Odessa

The value of lives lost 

"Columbia" astronauts' families are paid $26.6m April 16, story

We were all saddened and shocked by the loss of the Columbia astronauts in 2003. Now we learn that the families of the seven crew members will be given in excess of $26-million.

Former FBI director William Webster, who negotiated the settlement, said of the families that "they were ready, properly, to discuss their rights." The wife of one of the astronauts is quoted as saying: "It wasn't a lot of money. A few million isn't much."

I think that I am correct that even though NASA is a civilian agency, a large percentage of astronauts are active-duty military who have volunteered for the astronaut program. They wanted to go into space.

During the same time frame, 2003 on, in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have just as sadly lost more than 3,000 other service men and women, in addition to the multiple thousands who have been wounded. Like the astronauts, they volunteered for military service, but there the comparison stops.

The astronaut's widow said: "We had to prove our loved ones were worth something." Surely she is correct, but similarly are not the American dead in Baghdad and Anbar province worth as much? How about those from the rice paddies of Vietnam or the frozen hills of Korea? They were not even volunteers.

How many of our dead heroes from these and earlier conflicts left behind families who have had to put their lives in order and get on with raising and educating their children using whatever small survivors' payment they are given. I doubt it is in the millions.

Why it is that Congress sees the need appropriate $26-million for a half-dozen astronauts' families while coffins continue to arrive at Dover Air Force Base to be returned to their families with little more than a flag and "the thanks of a grateful nation"?

Thomas I. Hayes, St. Petersburg

A church's heart 

As blaze guts church, members lovingly recall time spent there April 15

Thank you for this article by Ben Montegomery on the church fire at Iglesia De Dios Torre Fuerte in Dover. I have read articles on this fire in a few different papers, but none of them showed the passion of the people and what the church truly meant to them as did your article .

This church is very dear to me, and it was good to read an article that showed the heart of the church. This was not just a building where we attended church, but it was a home for many. It was my home away from home while I attended, and I have seen God work many great things through these people and their passion for his ministry.

So thank you again for your portrayal of the church and its people. I appreciate it greatly.

Pamela Parry, Lakeland

[Last modified April 20, 2007, 01:04:31]