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Property tax reform deal's fortunes are fading
Senators appear to have little appetite for House leaders' plans for deeper cuts.
By ALEX LEARY and STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
Published October 19, 2007
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House members, from left, Democrat Dan Gelber, Republican Dean Cannon, Democrat Jack Seiler, and, standing, Democrat Ron Saunders discuss tax cut legislation Thursday.
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[Scott Keeler | Times]
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[Scott Keeler | Times]
Sen. Daniel Webster: "I think we have to start all over."
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TALLAHASSEE -- A powerful Republican senator said Thursday that divisions between the House and Senate on property tax cuts are so great that compromise may be impossible.
A pessimistic Sen. Daniel Webster blamed House leaders for breaking an agreement on the basics of a plan by adding costly and complicated new provisions that would have trouble winning voter approval.
"When two business people have an agreement, if there is one of the parties that wants to change the agreement, you can't change the agreement at the end. You start anew," Webster said. "I think we have to start all over."
The Senate and House are testing each others' limits. But the conflict underscores the reality that the House has a much bigger appetite for tax cuts than Senate leaders. Senators have adopted a more nuanced approach to tax relief that tries to help homeowners without hurting public education and local government.
The Legislature is under pressure to act quickly. The deadline to put a plan on the Jan. 29 ballot is the end of this month. With the Senate not returning until Tuesday, Webster voiced doubt that the deadline could be met.
He bit his lip and paused. "I don't know. Anything can happen. I guess. ... That would be difficult."
Webster, 58, is an iconic figure among Republican lawmakers. Now in his 27th year in the Legislature, he was the first Republican House speaker in more than 100 years when the GOP took control of the House in 1996. He has spent the past year leading negotiations on property tax cuts.
Gov. Charlie Crist essentially sided with Webster and Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, saying that the Senate plan represents all that can realistically be done right now.
It would provide up to $11-billion in tax cuts over four years.
Crist sent a clear message to House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is trying to turn property taxes into his signature cause and springboard for higher political aspirations.
"I have made this commitment that if there are additional things he wants to do, I do, too," Crist told the St. Petersburg Times. "But we have to live within the world of the doable here. None of us are king, me included. This is democracy, and we have to have agreement. We should not try to pursue perfection and lose the chance for progress."
Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, the House's lead tax negotiator, played down the criticism.
"It's way too early in the game for anyone to reach any conclusions about what is or is not doable," said Cannon, who met Thursday with key Democrats on details of an enlarged House tax plan.
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For all the grim faces, the Legislature was at a seeming impasse at the end of the regular session in May.
Then, as now, the House wanted to take more dramatic action than the Senate. In the end, the House backed down and a "super homestead exemption" amendment was passed. It was a victory for Webster and Cannon, who spent long hours at Webster's air-conditioning business working out a compromise.
But last month, a circuit judge ruled the amendment was confusing and threw it off the ballot, forcing a second special session.
The session began on a note of consensus: The homestead exemption would be doubled, first-time home buyers and low-income seniors would get tax breaks and the Save Our Homes benefit would be made portable.
Webster said then that internal polls showed overwhelming support for the plan.
But on Tuesday the House again demanded greater cuts. The biggest: extending the 3 percent Save Our Homes cap to second homes and businesses. To reduce property taxes for schools, the House would raise the statewide sales tax 1 cent.
That was too much for the Senate, which passed its plan Wednesday after nine hours of debate that exposed disappointment among both Republicans and Democrats.
Exemplifying their pledge not to veer from the confines of the special session, Senate leaders squashed about 40 amendments aimed at altering the plan.
Instead of passing its own version Thursday morning, House Speaker Rubio sent rank-and-file members home for the weekend while a few negotiators stayed around to rework a deal that includes the cap on nonhomestead property and 1 cent sales tax "swap" and an even newer provision inserted by Democrats.
Called "Save Our Homes Advance," the proposal would grant new homestead exemptions worth 40 percent of the median home value in a county. (That works out to about $70,000 in Hillsborough and Pinellas.)
"We have a chance to do something meaningful. We have a chance to do something meaningful together," Rubio said.
At day's end, Cannon met with House Democratic leaders, seeking common ground on details of the expanded Save Our Homes tax cap, praising them for working to give taxpayers the maximum benefit.
The one-hour session underscored Rubio's strategy to craft a tax package with broad bipartisan support in hopes that the Senate could not possibly reject it.
TAX PLAN COMPARISON
The Florida House and Senate agree on some provisions of a property tax cut plan and disagree on others. Here's a synopsis:*
Areas of agreement
- Homestead exemption doubled to $50,000.
- Save Our Homes made portable (owners can take benefit with them when they buy a new home).
- First-time buyers get extra exemption worth 25 percent of assessed value.
- Tax breaks for affordable housing property and working waterfronts.
- $25,000 tangible personal property exemption.
- Remove county appraisers' "presumption of correctness on appeals."
Total savings: About $8.5-billion
Partial agreement
The House would totally exempt low-income seniors from property taxes. The Senate would limit the exemption to $100,000.
Total savings: $1.3-billion to $2.6-billion.
Total disagreement
The Senate will not go along with the House on its desire to:
- Give owners of nonhomestead properties a 3% cap on assessment increases. This would save $14-billion.
- Offset the impact that cap would have on education by raising the sales tax 1 cent, raising about $12-billion.
*Preliminary estimates
Source: Florida House, Florida Senate
[Last modified October 19, 2007, 02:55:56]
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Comments on this article
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by Pete
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10/20/07 10:48 PM
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How about give the non homestead a 3% cap and homesteaders a 6% cap That is so much fairer than the other way around
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by Blake
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10/20/07 03:43 PM
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It's real simple as a non-homesteader my property is up for sale and I am taking my tax dollars elsewhere. Good bye Florida
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by Pat
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10/20/07 03:04 PM
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I guess our politicians haven't heard of "Killing the Golden Goose". Non Homesteaded folks are leaving in droves...See that Retail Sales Tax Revenue dropping like a stone...Fix it soon or the retirement Sunshine State will be a thing of the past.
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by AM
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10/20/07 07:26 AM
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Give tax relief to residenal single family nonhomesteaded property. Renters having to pay higher taxes for rental properties. Or assess rental property on the income approach which I was denied this year. Only the rich apartment get this benifit.
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by Joe
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10/20/07 07:06 AM
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Unless something is done, the inequity will continue, and the housing market will never pick up. People who bought property over 5 years ago will still be the winner as they are now, as the newer home owners will pay. Eliminate SAVE OUR HOMES TOTALLY
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by LoL
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10/20/07 12:09 AM
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didn't we elect these bozos to fix property taxes and insurance?
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by Mandy
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10/19/07 09:20 PM
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These "representatives" are a disgrace to the people of Florida. They are much more interested in themselves. Promise the world (get elected - Gov. Crist) don't deliver, promise the world again (get re-lected). Taxes will "drop like a rock". Sure :)
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by Bill
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10/19/07 05:03 PM
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Seniors under the present tax will loose aa life time of hopes as the tax man steals their investment. With such a variety of "owners" any tax method hurts us all. Sales tax % is fair & gives money needed. Buyer will really own the home free/clear
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by Tom
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10/19/07 01:40 PM
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Here is a simple understandable plan for starters. Send all ad valorem tax payers a refund check of 25% of the taxes they owe and will pay next month. Once the tax is PAID, send a refund. Plain and simple.
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by Barbara
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10/19/07 12:51 PM
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Remove the homestead exemption, remove the SOH cap, and give all homeowners who are at 2X poverty level a break. better yet, make it progressive and have the poor pay less and the rich pay more.
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by brian
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10/19/07 12:31 PM
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property values have become unrealistic. with that comes the high tax amount, then insurance. politicians should be ashamed of them selves.
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by Bill
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10/19/07 12:11 PM
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If they don't get something on the ballot for January, real estate sales will halt while people wait to see the new rules which will kill the economy of the state. No wait. This has already happened. Pass a limited plan and protect education funds.
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by Bill
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10/19/07 12:08 PM
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The author incorrectly suggests that the impasse in May was resolved at the 11th hour. Instead, that problem was solved during a special session in June.
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by JT
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10/19/07 11:47 AM
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Eliminate Property Tax and replace it with sales tax on Services like pool and lawn care, Legal Work and all the other stuff the well off use. Stop renting your property rights from the GOVT, pay what you can afford not what politicians want to take
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by Casey
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10/19/07 11:30 AM
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These idiots in the Senate will pay dearly at the polls if we don't get a big property tax reduction. It is really that simple.
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by Jim S
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10/19/07 11:22 AM
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The Democrats under Steve Geller & Dan Gelber support local government's drunken spending. They don't really want any meaningful property tax relief.
It's time to vote them out if we don't get a big cut, and I don't mean $200 either.
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by Joshu Jones
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10/19/07 11:14 AM
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We don't need a tax cut as badly as we need affordable insurance. The whole tax reform situation is just a bone tossed to the housing market anyways. All that new construction needs to pay more tax and the state needs to use it to fill the ins pool.
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by GREGG
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10/19/07 10:46 AM
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We have no one to blame but ourselves. The term limits we passed are haunting us. the only people who know whats going on in Tallahassee are the lobbyist. No one in the House or senate is there long enough to know how things work. REPEL TERM LIMITS!
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by Sarah
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10/19/07 10:21 AM
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The House plan is by far the better one.Relief for owners of rental and commercial properties.My tenants can't pay what I would have to charge to cover the increases in taxes and insurance.I liked Rubio's original 2.5% sales tax increase;at least at
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by Patty
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10/19/07 10:11 AM
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Why isn't everyone getting a break, that's illegal discrimination. Someone please look into this! Without those nonhomestead owners (and they'll leave if you do this), the state stands to see more loss than the tax cut would bring.
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by A. J.
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10/19/07 09:30 AM
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Pasco County taxes have DOUBLED in the past three years, yet we get a big tax break of about 3%? You must think we're idiots, but we will see who the idiots really are at the next election!
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by Rick
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10/19/07 09:23 AM
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And we're surprised!!? These politicians have no spine. Even what they're offering does little to relieve the tax burden they've put on home owners. Nothing's going to change until we, the homeowners, band together and make it happen!
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by Debbie
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10/19/07 09:17 AM
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I would rather they not put anything on the ballot in January if it's going to be a slammed together plan. Let the people present their ideas to the unaffiliated tax reform committee. The tax reform committee can recommend items for ballot in Nov 08
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by gg
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10/19/07 08:42 AM
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The House is correct.
Withouit real estate sales the economy is stagnant. The tax relief needs to be simple to understand and broad based.
Christ has no courage.
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by Patricia
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10/19/07 08:34 AM
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The SENATE is WRONG, WRONG, and living in the past. Non homestead owners deserve to be treated fairly--this is discrimination at its highest & needs to be stopped. Enough is enough is enough.
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by Todd
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10/19/07 08:13 AM
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Rather than the same 3% cap homesteaded property owners get, how about something like a 6% cap for non-homesteaded property and business'? C'mon guys and gals, 49 other states don't seem to have such a hard time making property taxes fair!
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by Ronnie
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10/19/07 08:12 AM
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The House is doing what the votes want, while the Senate is stone walling. The House proposal will be passed by voters. There is no guarantee about the
Senate plan. I won't vote for any plan that does not cut taxes for everyone.
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