Property Tax and Silly People

Here in sunny Florida, we have a problem the problem is not so unique that no other state has it but we always try to demonstrate our level of state intelligence. For those of you who don't know, Florida derives its income from two sources ... property tax and sales tax. The property tax system is administrative in a less than intelligent manner. Add to this that our current governor did declare that he was going to put forth legislature that would make that same property tax drop like a rock. Now keep in mind that when you eliminate a source of money that produces only two options unless your Washington D.C. ... you lower spending or you raise other taxes to compensate. It is hard to have part A of the conversation without part B. The separate issue is taking a short sighted poorly designed property tax system and make a special effort to make it dumber. Oh we so want to be like Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana ... how low can we go.

So a couple of months ago Mr. Jeff Witkin wrote a letter to the Sun Sentinel on property tax reform. His letter to the editor has convinced me that people actually believe our politicians and those same people have a problem with those that do not.

When your child tells you a story that is purposefully untrue … you call it a lie, discipline them and teach them that only the truth works. Politicians say many things that are not based on fact but only what they want is to think. We allow the news outlets to report the “facts” of their statements except for the “opinion page” and we move on. We know what they said to be untrue. This happens so often that we stop listening to the political prattle.

A historical note: Former Governor Jeb Bush claimed to be the “Education Governor”. The Boards of Education shout with high praise the increased quality of our schools and the improved FCAT scores. What ends up on the inside of the news reports or unreported is that Florida is 47^th state in education. We want to thank Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana for worse educational systems so that Florida is not lower on the list. Meanwhile our teachers are either retiring or moving to other states to earn a living wage. So Mr. Witkin, of course any change to the property tax will not affect the educational system because it is so far down it would be hard to go lower.

Now Governor Crist and the other Tallahassee gangs both Republican and Democrats are fighting over lowering our property tax. Now that sounds wonderful. Of course no one wants to make the system fair. These wonderful politicians are going to lower the tax while discussing the upcoming billion dollar deficit.

Mr. Witkin you say, no problem, the lowered revenue caused by the decrease in property tax will not affect the educational system or other services but only take the money the govern bodies are wasting out of the system. Now it is hard to make the education system worse. So how we will have at least equal services with less money, Mr. Witkin does not say.

Yes, our system is not perfect. All homes are not taxed equally. All taxpayers are not treated equally. The system currently and being proposed rewards the individual who is a resident of Florida and never moves. The new homeowner pays a higher property tax on a similarly valued home. The non resident bears a higher share of the property tax while using a lower portion of the services. The landlord who helps to provide housing for those who can afford or does not desire the American Dream of home ownership is punished with higher property tax. The young family just starting out with fewer resources is taxed based upon the current fair market value of the home but that family who does not move and just watches the value of their home increase while paying property tax based closer to their original purchase price.

Therefore, we have clear facts of why young families, teachers and others are leaving the state. One, high cost of living reflected in high property tax for new homeowners or renters. Two, as the State continues to provide low quality education for children. Three, hurricanes continue to plague the state. Well, we can’t fix the hurricane problem.

So, if you want a fair property tax system, value all real estate based upon its current fair market value. Total the amount of the fair market value in a tax district. Divide the total budget by that total fair market value. No significant difference for the length of ownership or type of ownership. Adjust the fair market value for all real estate every number of years, say three or five years.

Mr. Witkin stop listing to the rhetoric and non sense reported as if it really was fact. Per your statement, “many desirable working class families will continue to leave the state.” if you want Florida to be a better place … make the elected officials really improve the education system and make the property tax really fair and equal. As a side note, sending our children to school in the middle of August will not improve a poor system; other states with better systems still wait till after Labor Day to start. So take your blinders off and really look at your state.

It is amazing that people are actually allowed to vote at all for anyone or anything.