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No black or white on property tax plan

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published January 27, 2008

Even now, with election day just two days off and early voting already under way, a lot of folks are still asking:

Is this Amendment 1 good or bad? Should I vote for it?

There are good things and bad things about it. As usual, the campaigns on both sides make it look all black or white.

Here are some good things, at least from a tax-cutting point of view:

-If you're a homeowner, you would get a bigger tax exemption. It isn't "double," as the supporters like to say. But it's bigger. The average homeowner saves $240 a year.

-If you move to a new house, you could bring your existing Save Our Homes tax break with you - it would become "portable."

-Even if you're not a homesteaded owner, you'd get a 10 percent cap on how much the county appraiser can jack up your value each year.

(The opponents make a wacky claim that this helps out-of-staters the most. But it helps everybody who isn't a homestead property owner.)

-If you're a business owner, you'll get a little help with a tax exemption for the first $25,000 of your "tangible personal property."

I run a weekly live Internet chat each Tuesday (see the plug down below). Last week, one participant saw the issue as a no-brainer, declaring:

"Only someone on drugs, or a total idiot, would vote against a tax break for themselves."

But there must be a lot of idiots, and I might end up being one of them. The polls show that Amendment 1 is a close call.

That's because there are bad things about it, too. You can criticize Amendment 1 from all directions, starting with the fact that it doesn't cut taxes enough.

It doesn't reverse most of the increases in local taxes that have doubled since 2000. It doesn't help anybody who got whacked by moving before Jan. 1, 2007.

So if you're a tax-hatin' sort of person, Amendment 1 might be too puny. You have to decide: Do I take what I can get, or reject it as not enough?

You can criticize Amendment 1 from other directions, as well.

First, our state's tax structure is already messed up. Amendment 1 only makes it worse. And it helps us homeowners the most, when we already get the best deal.

(I know, I know - the taxes on your house went up. Taxes went up on my house, too. But we get a 3 percent annual cap on how fast values can go up. It's brutally unfair for one Floridian to be paying far more than another for living in a home of the same value.)

Second, Amendment 1 will result in an estimated 8 percent to 11 percent cut in local government tax revenue. I do not buy the locals' hysterical claims that little kids are going to start dying in the streets, but there will be cuts.

Third, this is just one more quick fix. After earlier ideas either failed or got shot down, the Legislature punted and put a simple-sounding gimmick on the ballot.

I don't think anybody who votes for it or against it is an idiot either way.

* * *

Let's hang out together on election day. I'll be running a two-hour live chat on TroxBlog to hear what folks are saying - including reports of any glitches or problems.

The chat will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. You'll find TroxBlog under the "Blogs" menu of tampabay.com. Look for an announcement that the chat is open.

[Last modified January 26, 2008, 23:32:51]