Broward
Activists for Tax Equity
Recent Updates
January 21, 2008
According to the minutes of the January 10 Meeting of the TBRC’s Finance and Taxation Committee, the state Senate will review each of the 247 sales tax exemption described in the Florida Tax Handbook. In theory, removal of a significant number of such exemptions could result in shifting some of the property tax burden to the sales tax. The TBRC has decided not to vote on proposals related to the property tax until after the January 29 vote on the proposed constitutional amendment.
Petitions for amicus curiae briefs in support of the Lanning
v Pilcher lawsuit to overturn SOH are now available at www.browact.org/legal.htm for
petitioning the attorneys general of
January 7, 2008
Two forums will be held this week on the proposed property
tax amendment that will appear on the Jan 29 ballot. The first is tonight at the
From what I can tell, the TBRC may be offering some amendments to force property tax reduction, but I see no effort to reduce the existing tax inequities. Limiting yearly increases on non-homestead taxable assessments to 10% while retaining the 3% limit for homestead properties does not provide meaningful relief. I have seen no formal proposals other than the one by the Tax Equity Working Group to phase out SOH. Consequently, I ( and many others) have concluded that a lawsuit is the only probable method of achieving equity.
The last update mentioned two lawsuits in progress: Bruner v Hartsfield, recently submitted
to the circuit court, and Lanning v Pilcher now on appeal. The attorneys are looking for amicus
curiae (friend of the court) briefs from relevant outside parties in support of
the Lanning case. To this end I
have started a drive to collect signatures on a petition to the Massachusetts
Attorney General to provide such a brief.
If you are a legal resident of
If you are a legal resident of another state with a
significant number of owners of
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December 24, 2007
The TBRC and its Finance and Tax Committee met on December
14. There was considerable
discussion at the F&T meeting concerning a proposal to adopt tax
limitations similar to
Cmmr. Carlos Lacasa has offered a constitutional amendment (CP0021) that includes additional exemptions for homesteaders plus a 5% cap on the yearly increase in taxable assessments for non-homestead properties. Details of proposals and minutes can be found on the TBRC web page at www.floridatbrc.com .
Another lawsuit to overturn the Save Our Homes Amendment has
been filed with the Circuit Court in
I do not expect additional action of the tax issue for the remainder of this year. Here's wishing you all an enjoyable holiday season and a happy and healthy new year.
December 14, 2007
The TBRC continues to generate ideas for tax reform. Relevant draft proposals for constitutional amendments include:
CP0014: Portability for SOH exemptions to new homesteads.
CP0015: Exempt properties used for conservation purposes from ad valorem taxes.
CP0016: Require legislature to classify land used for conservation.
CP0018: Require legislature to amend laws to allow agreements with other states concerning calculation and remittance of sales taxes imposed on remote sellers.
There is also draft legislation (SR0017) to revise the laws concerning the levying of sales taxes. Anyone wishing to read and summarize the 115-page document is invited to do so.
The text of these proposals can be found at http://www.floridatbrc.com/proposals.php.
If you like rallies and are in favor of the proposed
amendment to limit property taxes to 1.35% of assessed value, check out the
"Florida Tea Party '07" to be held in
December 8, 2007
Support for some of the ideas presented in the Tax Equity
Working Group's submission
to the TBRC is coming from outside and inside the Commission. Prof. Barry Poulson, a professor of
economics at the
Some of the proposals by TBRC members also overlap with the TEWG recommendations. Two of the proposals, which you can find at http://www.floridatbrc.com/proposals.php, would implement our recommendations for reviewing exemptions to the property tax (proposal CP007) and to have the sales tax pick up the cost of education (P002). Also relevant are Resolutions FT-F relating to sales tax on services and FT-E relating to assessment of commercial properties, which may be found at http://www.floridatbrc.com/reports.php.
You can check out the minutes of the TBRC, especially the Finance and Tax Committee, at the above web site to see what's going on and who the important players are. From the F&T minutes of 11/30 and 12/ 6 you will find concern about tax fairness and relying more on the sales tax. In particular:
· F&T Chair Susan Story is concerned about addressing the issue of equity and fairness with regard to property taxes.
· Ken Wilkinson of SOH fame claims to be on board for fairness and equity and is pushing repeal of the Required Local Effort (RLE) to have the state pick up the full tab for education.
· Randy Miller wants to address the issue of a tax cap for non-homestead property but has a problem with over-reliance on the sales tax.
· Gwen Margolis thinks some of the school funding should come from local taxes.
· Patricia Levesque looks favorably on spending caps and on repeal of the RLE
· James Scott is pushing the issues of across the board fairness and equity for property tax relief.
Let these TBRC commissioners hear from you on issues that you support – or disagree with – and if you can, work in a mention of the TEWG's proposals. You can address individual members at http://www.floridatbrc.com/contacts.php. To address the entire group, use the mailing list shown in the Update of November 23.
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November 26, 2007
It has been brought to my attention by one of our letter-writers that the TBRC web site does not have the capability to CC a message. If you choose to use that site for communicating with TBRC members, rather than using their e-mail addresses directly, please first copy the text of your message to a message directed to me at browact@comcast.net before sending it on to the TBRC member.
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November 23, 2007
Recall that the name of our organization is "Broward Activists for Tax Equity". It is time once again to demonstrate the activists" part. As noted in recent updates, the Tax Equity Working Group, consisting of four members of BROWACT and two activists from other tax reform organizations, has submitted a set of proposals to the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC). Key proposals are reducing property taxes and limiting future revenue growth; eliminating unjustified exemptions to the sales tax and having the sales tax support a major portion of the cost of education; and phasing out the Save Our homes (SOH) benefits.
The TBRC will be working over the next few months to determine their recommendations for constitutional amendments and legislation. I am asking BROWACT members to lobby the Commission to consider the Working Group's proposals. The more letters the TBRC receives, the more likely the Commission will pay attention. The letter or e-mail message can be a single sentence asking the Commission to support the recommendations of the Tax Equity Working Group, or it can be more substantive such as the message by BROWACT member Sidney Margles. You can address Commission members individually through their web site , or you can use the addresses shown at the end of this message to contact the entire Commission.
Messages sent sooner in the decision process will have more
impact then messages sent later, so please try to send a message within the
week. Be sure to include your name
and
There is hope that the TBRC will actually do something useful. The documents generated at the November 16 meeting show considerable interest in eliminating unjustified exemptions to the sales tax. Elimination of these exemptions would allow the sales tax, in theory, to pick up some of the burden currently imposed on the property tax. Also, the very first sentence of the TBRC's Principles of Taxation for Florida reads "Equity and Fairness – The Florida tax system should treat individuals and entities equitably." Let's hold them to their word. Commissioner Barney Barnett (barney.barnett@floridatbrc.org) has been assigned responsibility for this issue. Perhaps you might like to contact him individually.
I am assuming, of course, that you agree with the Working Group's proposals. If not, please contact me so that we can try to resolve whatever issues you might have.
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TBRC membership:
allan.bense@floridatbrc.org, jamesa.scott@floridatbrc.org, barney.barnett@floridatbrc.org, martha.barnett@floridatbrc.org, mark.bostick@floridatbrc.org, t.dalember@floridatbrc.org, mike.hogan@floridatbrc.org, julia.johnson@floridatbrc.org, bruce.kyle@floridatbrc.org, carlos.lacasa@floridatbrc.org, patricia.levesque@floridatbrc.org, alan.levine@floridatbrc.org, roberto.martinez@floridatbrc.org, jacinta.mathis@floridatbrc.org, john.mckay@floridatbrc.org, bob.mckee@floridatbrc.org, lesley.miller@floridatbrc.org, randy.miller@floridatbrc.org, jade.moore@floridatbrc.org, nancy.riley@floridatbrc.org, darryl.rouson@floridatbrc.org, susan.story@floridatbrc.org, greg.turbeville@floridatbrc.org, kenneth.wilkinson@floridatbrc.org, brian.yablonski@floridatbrc.org, mike.haridopolos@floridatbrc.org, gwen.margolis@floridatbrc.org, frank.peterman@floridatbrc.org, ray.sansom@floridatbrc.org
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November 15, 2007
As noted in the previous update the Tax Equity Working Group has submitted recommendations for tax reform to the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC). The Committee is meeting in person tomorrow and again on November 29. It is one thing to present material to the Commission; it's another thing to make them pay attention to it when they are most likely receiving recommendations from many others. One way – perhaps the only way – to raise the level of consciousness is by lobbying for the proposals.
To refresh your memory, the proposals contained in the document include: reducing property taxes and limiting future revenue growth; eliminating unjustified exemptions to the sales tax and having the sales tax support a major portion of the cost of education; enacting a "circuit-breaker" policy to provide assistance to low-income resident seniors via the state general fund; allowing the current $25K homestead exemption to increase with increasing property values; and phasing out the Save Our homes (SOH) benefits. For your convenience a copy of the document is attached.
If you like the entire package, lobby for the package. If you like only one or two proposals, then lobby specifically for them. It would be helpful to note that you are referring to the "Tax Equity Working Group proposals" so that they will know that you are part of a group and not just a lone voice in the wilderness.
You needn't write a long essay
unless you feel compelled to do so.
If you are a snowbird, your message could be something as simple as
"Because of the high property taxes on second homes I will not be able to
vacation in
You get the idea. The point here is that we should expect the TBRC to be receiving lots of ideas, and there needs to be lots of input from all of us to make sure our ideas receive fair consideration. I suggest that messages be sent within the next two weeks, as November 29 is the deadline for the Commissioners to draft their recommendations.
There are also a number of interesting
petitions being circulated. If you
are a
An alternative to eliminating SOH, but which I think achieves nearly the same objective, is a plan to retroactively apply the 3% cap on assessments to all properties, suggested by BROWACT member Stan Chamberlin
If to wish to lobby a few Commission members through the TBRC web site, go to http://www.floridatbrc.com/contacts.php. If you wish to lobby the entire group efficiently, use the e-mail addresses shown below. Just select the entire list and place it in the To field of your message, or, to reduce clutter, in the Bcc field with the message addressed to yourself. In any case, please copy browact@comcast.net on the message.
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TBRC e-mail addresses:
allan.bense@floridatbrc.org, jamesa.scott@floridatbrc.org, barney.barnett@floridatbrc.org, martha.barnett@floridatbrc.org, mark.bostick@floridatbrc.org, t.dalember@floridatbrc.org, mike.hogan@floridatbrc.org, julia.johnson@floridatbrc.org, bruce.kyle@floridatbrc.org, carlos.lacasa@floridatbrc.org, patricia.levesque@floridatbrc.org, alan.levine@floridatbrc.org, roberto.martinez@floridatbrc.org, jacinta.mathis@floridatbrc.org, john.mckay@floridatbrc.org, bob.mckee@floridatbrc.org, lesley.miller@floridatbrc.org, randy.miller@floridatbrc.org, jade.moore@floridatbrc.org, nancy.riley@floridatbrc.org, darryl.rouson@floridatbrc.org, susan.story@floridatbrc.org, greg.turbeville@floridatbrc.org, kenneth.wilkinson@floridatbrc.org, brian.yablonski@floridatbrc.org, mike.haridopolos@floridatbrc.org, gwen.margolis@floridatbrc.org, frank.peterman@floridatbrc.org, ray.sansom@floridatbrc.org
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November 8, 2007
The Tax Equity Working Group, consisting of four Browact members and two other tax-reform leaders, has submitted its set of recommendations for tax reform, along with a cover letter, to the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission. The Commission members should have the material in hand by the time of their next meeting on November 16.
It seems clear the Legislature is not going to address the property tax issue in a satisfactory manner. The leaves two avenues of action (not counting lawsuits): initiative petition and the TBRC. Two petitions of particular interest are one to abolish property taxes altogether, and one to limit property taxes to 1.25% of taxable value. Those who are legal residents are eligible to sign, and anyone can circulate a petition.
Because the Commission has made e-mail communications accessible, I assume it is appropriate to lobby them on behalf of policies we would like to see enacted. Please look over the material, and, starting around the middle of next week, begin lobbying the Commission to adopt the policies described in the document. If you don't like everything in the package, then lobby specifically for those ideas that you do like. Be sure to refer to the document by name (e.g. "the Tax Equity Working Group proposals") so that they make the connection.
The proposals contained in the document include: reducing property taxes and limiting future revenue growth; eliminating unjustified exemptions to the sales tax and having the sales tax support a major portion of the cost of education; enacting a "circuit-breaker" policy to provide assistance to low-income resident seniors via the state general fund; allowing the current $25K homestead exemption to increase with increasing property values; and phasing out the Save Our homes (SOH) benefits.
The TBRC has various committees, the most relevant one being the Finance and Tax Committee. Below is a listing of the TBRC members with links to their e-mail pages. If the links don't work, you can access them through http://www.floridatbrc.com/contacts.php.
Taxation and Budget Reform Commission
Allan Bense, Chairman 
Finance and Tax Committee Members
Susan Story, Chair
Hoyt "Barney" Barnett
Martha W. Barnett
Julia Johnson
Bruce Kyle
Patricia Levesque
John M. McKay
Randy Miller
James A. Scott
Kenneth "Ken" Wilkinson
Brian Yablonski
Other Members
R. Mark Bostick
Talbot "Sandy" D’Alemberte
Mike Hogan
Carlos
Lacasa
Alan Levine
Roberto "Bobby"
Jacinta Mathis
Bob McKee
Lesley J.
"Les" Miller, Jr.
Jade Thomas Moore
Nancy J. Riley
Darryl Rouson
William Gregory "Greg" Turbeville
Ex Oficio (non-voting)
Members:
Senator Mike Haridopolos
Senator Gwen Margolis
Representative Frank Peterman, Jr.
Representative Ray Sansom
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October 31, 2007
Full disclosure: the bill passed by the legislature does limit taxable assessments on non-homestead (NH) properties to a yearly increase of 10%. Big whoop! With the housing market as it is, that feature is unlikely to provide any benefit to NH property owners for some time to come. There is some opinion that the portability feature that allows homesteaders to carry their exemptions over to a new residence will increase the chances that SOH will be declared unconstitutional.
It is now up to the TBRC to come up with sensible tax reform.
Happy Halloween.
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October 30, 2007
The Legislature has passed a scaled-back tax reform measure to go on the ballot at the presidential primary on Jan 29. The plan doubles the homestead exemption to $50,000, and allows homesteaders to take up to $500,000 of the Save Our Homes savings with them when moving to a new home. Not much beyond that. The plan does not give extra relief for first-time homebuyers or low-income seniors, nor does it require that commercial properties be assessed on the basis of current use. Non-homestead assessments are not capped at 5% as the House wanted.
I think the impact of these reforms is best summed up by the following quote: ''This is not tax reform. This is tax shift,'' said Rep. Franklin Sands, D-Weston. "and, as we know in this process, shift happens.''
Meanwhile, a core group of us is continuing to work on a tax reform plan to submit to the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission in the hope that they will come up with a comprehensive and equitable plan for tax reform to go on the November 2008 ballot.
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Updates prior to October 30, 2007