Eagle Editorial: Tax shifting is not tax reform
Appropriately coinciding with the official start of hurricane season Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for a special legislative session to push his “Save Our Homes” plan to slash property taxes.
“Today in Tampa, I outlined the Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes plan that will eliminate taxes on homesteads,” Gov. DeSantis said Wednesday. “Property tax revenue collected by local governments has nearly doubled in the past seven years and is expected to reach an astounding $83 billion by 2032. Florida homeowners need relief. Now is the time to stand up for taxpayers, enact a historic reform, and save the home of every Floridian.”
According to a release from his office, the components in his proposal would exempt the first $250,000 of a homestead’s value with a phased in goal of exempting $500,000 from property taxation; would require local governments to use the taxes collected “solely for core public needs including public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, and natural resources;” would limit property tax assessment on businesses; would require Floridians who move here to maintain residency for up to five years before getting the tax break; and would create a state trust fund to “provide grants to local governments to assist with the continuation of core local services.”
The next step will be consideration by the state House and Senate, where Gov. DeSantis’ initial proposal to eliminate most property taxes died aborning.
If the governor’s latest proposal garners support and passes in a form he finds acceptable, it then will come before voters as a constitutional amendment which, in Florida, requires approval by 60% of the voters to become law.
A couple of things which we shared when the governor first proposed reform he maintains will help homeowners -especially lower income and fixed income property owners — stay in their homes.
First and foremost let us beat this nail to the board: A tax is a tax is a tax.
Call it an “assessment,” call it a “fee,” call it anything you want to call it, if it is property-based it’s a tax on property even if it’s not technically a property tax, that ad valorem based levy that Gov. DeSantis would like to greatly reduce or eliminate.
For many of us, the “property tax” portion of our tax bill is the tip of the tax iceberg.
Virtually all locally-provided services were covered by property taxes before the state legislature started creating carve outs years ago.
One example is the “re-capture” for fire protection expenditures after the real estate collapse wreaked havoc on funding for special districts.
Municipalities, including the city of Cape Coral Cape, then piggy-backed in for the Cape Coral Fire Department, with the new funds supplementing general fund budgets that have long since ballooned back and then some.
Let us be blunt: These various and sundry “assessments” have become an end run around Florida’s constitutional millage cap, Homestead protections and, for church-owned properties, taxes that aren’t exempt.
Not only that, assessments and fees are not tied to property values and can be increased at will by local taxing authorities.
In places like Cape Coral, where undeveloped parcels are plentiful or valuations are low, the cumulative non-ad valorem levies can and often do exceed the actual property tax portion of the tax bill
Let us say it one more time: Call them assessments, call them what you will — a tax is a tax is a tax.
And the tax man too often doesn’t care from which pocket he collects.
As we stated in September, if Gov. DeSantis’ goal is to protect homeowners from being taxed out of their homes he needs to commit to addressing not only property taxes but all taxes on property and taxes in general: Cost shifting is not reform.
Any move to eliminate property taxes, or minimize them by raising the sales tax would be a tax shift, not a tax savings at all.
Allowing the un-capped, exemption-less non-ad valorem component of Florida’s property tax bills to proliferate is not a tax savings at all.
The last thing property owners in Florida need is our constitutional Save-Our-Homes protections and exemptions removed, leaving long-time homeowners, disabled veterans, older property owners and more vulnerable to being “assessed” out of their homes.
Do it right. Or don’t waste more of the taxpayers’ collective dime on a shell game not likely to fool 60% of Florida’s voters.