If polls governed, there'd be no taxes
By STEVE BOUSQUET, Tallahassee Bureau Chief
Published November 3, 2007
Say something brilliant," Gov. Charlie Crist said as he invited Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster to the microphones.
The Senate property tax plan, largely Webster's work, had just passed the House Monday.
Webster, the quiet sage of the Legislature, delivered a fitting epitaph for a huge expansion of Save Our Homes, the assessment cap that has split Florida into tax break haves and have-nots, living on the same street.
"Well, if you can't beat 'em, you join 'em, so we gave the cap to everybody," said Webster,.
"As our polling showed, people were just not willing, even with a choice, to give up Save Our Homes," he said.
Webster had in mind an earlier tax-cut proposal, struck down by a judge, which polls showed was headed for failure because over time it would have made Save Our Homes extinct.
People in Florida love Save Our Homes.
What we have here is "policy by poll." Opinion surveys have become the justification for "portability," the power to transport the 3 percent cap from one house to another, even though it will also expand the suppression of property taxation that favors longtime residents over newcomers.
The runup in property values has worsened the disparities between longtime homesteaders, who have the 3 percent a year Save Our Homes cap, and newer buyers.
Webster defended a reliance on polling because any tax proposal needs the approval on Jan. 29 of 60 percent of voters as a proposed constitutional amendment.
"We need to know what the people are thinking," Webster said.
A few short months ago, Webster dared to say publicly what other politicians wouldn't, that Save Our Homes was "a failed experiment" and "bad public policy."
"It has hurt our economy and it's going to hurt our future," Webster said in June.
Some may argue that the only thing worse than half of Florida's homesteaders enjoying Save Our Homes is all of them having it.
Crist has fretted about failing to follow through on a campaign promise of tax relief.
In Crist's populism-driven administration, giving people what they want on taxes is celebrated as leadership at its best, whether or not it's sound policy.
To be fair, Crist has advocated policies that don't poll well, such as expanding restoration of civil rights for released felons or demanding $5-million for boot camp victim Martin Lee Anderson.
But on a subject as critical to the state's future as tax policy, it's hard to imagine LeRoy Collins or Reubin Askew using polls to shape policy this way, let alone Jeb Bush.
Behind the scenes, Crist took a more active role in this latest tax struggle. He gently twisted arms, cajoled lawmakers to "be eloquent" in speeches, and gave Democratic Sen. Steve Geller much of the credit for the popularity of portability.
Now the voters have the power to surprise Crist and legislators by rejecting this sugarcoated tax plan filled with unforeseen implications.
Are the people of Florida wiser than the governor and the Legislature? Probably not if they think it means lower taxes. Besides, first-time home buyers and newcomers to Florida don't vote in the proportion that longtime residents do.
"The boss gets to make the ultimate call," Crist said, "and that's the way it should be."
Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.