Today's Letters: Latest effort at tax relief is a joke

Property tax cut emerges from fight Oct. 30, story 

I have some foggy memory of a guy named Crist promising that once he became governor, property taxes were going to "drop like a rock."

Apparently size doesn't really matter when it comes to the subject of stones large and small. This proposal promoted by Lame Gang Charlie and the Monoliths of Milquetoast in the Florida Senate is, well, a joke.

They have driven a stake into the heart of the staggering real estate market, home builders and all the ancillary businesses associated with these two foundering industries.

The baby boom generation will start (actually it already has) to search for more property tax and insurance-friendly states in which to plant their nest eggs as they retire in the next few years.

Forget Florida and its obscenely unfair tax system that forces the new guys to pay so the rest of Floridians - already comfortably secure as longtime residents - don't have to. Forget the owners of small businesses and the buyers of second homes, snowbirds who might have thought about Florida. They can go to Texas, Louisiana or another gulf state to fish and play golf. They can move to the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina or Tennessee for a fraction of what we'd charge them to live here.

We've been screaming for help, and Lame Gang Charlie comes riding in on his wooden pony with a Band-Aid to stop a heart attack.

We have met the enemy and promptly killed them by suicide.

Gary Smith, St. Petersburg

Crist: "People have won" Oct. 30

What's to celebrate?

I am having a tough time understanding how the legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist are celebrating a win for the people. I believe they are celebrating the process, not the results. The article says legislators were getting out of town. They should!

I cannot believe that an average savings of $240 per year fulfills Gov. Crist's promise of taxes falling like a rock! If that is the case, then the governor has never seen a rock fall. I will not waste my time voting on Jan. 29.

I guess I should be grateful. I will be able to apply the $240 savings to the $550 increase in my homeowners insurance. Thank you! Thank you!

Jim Clesas, Clearwater

Blame them all

It's hard to imagine how the Florida House and Senate could have taken the desire of most Floridans to have property taxes dramatically lowered and turned it into the very undramatic result they have agreed upon.

Well, I'm not going to blame anyone. I'm going to blame everyone. Until there is significant property tax reform, I'm going to vote against all incumbents, regardless of how they may have appeared to fight for lower taxes.

I urge other voters to take this "no excuses ... incumbents lose" pledge. Perhaps if incumbents find they can't hide behind excuses and halfhearted efforts, they will actually do something meaningful.

The Legislature wanted to come up with a tax proposal that was simple and easy to understand. I think "no excuses ... incumbents lose" accomplishes those goals.

Alan Reeder-Camponi, St. Petersburg

Inequity continues

Are they kidding? This tax bill is a joke. It gives the longtime homeowner, who is already paying the lowest taxes, a better deal. The recent home buyer gets a small break. The owner of nonhomestead property gets almost nothing, so renters still pay the most.

It does nothing to "level the playing field" where similar homes are paying vastly different amounts in taxes. My house will still be taxed at almost four times my next-door neighbor's house, and she has two baths compared to my one.

I imagine that she can flush this stuff Tallahassee is putting out easier than I can.

Dale Romano, St. Petersburg

Aid is misdirected

Was it not the inequality of the real estate taxation process on homeowners that propelled this reform movement forward more than a year ago? Why then are we again only helping those who did not recently move (losing their Save Our Homes cap) and are not currently dealing with an increased tax burden?

Portability only helps those who already have low taxes to be able to move and take their savings to their new residence and continue the inequality.

Property tax reform needs to be more universal, and we must remember all the folks who are currently hurting and need the tax relief due to being overtaxed today. This reform does very little to help those individuals!

Jeff Novak, Tampa

Comical relief

What a great job our politicians have done to save us from the tax crush. I am so grateful. Just think of all the sighs of relief there will be when the people find out the immense tax savings coming their way - "an estimated tax savings of $240 a year." Are they serious? Gov. Charlie Crist says, "So much joy here, because the people have won." Tell that to the people who are moving or losing their homes because of the thousands and thousands of dollars that they will still have to pay for their taxes.

Okay, Jay Leno can take it from here.

Richard Riddell, Inverness

Stellar job, kids

Congratulations to our elected officials! They have managed, after much "hard work," to come up with a property tax bill that not only doesn't help us with the core issue, but also actually hurts us on a multitude of other levels. Now that's something I would have never thought possible. No wonder it was so difficult to get done.

The solution was right there. The elimination of property taxes in lieu of an increase in the sales tax. Having no property taxes would not only help current Florida residents, but also would make Florida the most appealing place in the nation to live. There would be more homes bought and kept, more people having and spending money, and that would equal more jobs and more money in the state coffers.

Oh, now that I think about it, I can see why that proposal was scrapped. It made far too much sense.

Keep up the good work, boys and girls.

Kevin Gill, Palm Harbor

Two crashes leave three dead Oct. 30, story

Insensitive practice

This article contains the often included: "Their families could not be reached for comment."

Apparently your writers feel that "comment" by the immediate survivors of tragic accidents is so important to your readers that you must advise when it is not available.

Contacting the next of kin shortly after a fatal accident provides no essential information to your readers and is extraordinarily insensitive. Please review this policy.

Richard J. Lewis, Madeira Beach

[Last modified October 30, 2007, 21:29:40]