As far as I understand it, The Governor didn't know how to handle this mess so what does a good politian do? He sent it to committee for study!

So all the smug old time homesteaders are safe for at least another few years, while I read of an exodus out of Florida due to property taxes and Insurance rate escalation that are out of sight.

We just recently returned to our home in Atlanta, Ga. after spending
several months in St. Pete.

During our stay we visited other communities south of St. Pete with
the intentions of buying property elsewhere since the Powers to be in St. Pete has just about taxed us out of their fair city. We have
been in St. Pete 20 years and have used our home for our family a
place to vacation and my wife and I to spend our retirement in a
warm environment.

I pay 5 times the taxes than my neighbor across the street, yet I
can not vote for anyone in Florida government. St. Pete tax accessors can and do jack up my property value ever year, no 3 percent cap here.

In the Atlanta area I have a home that is 3 times larger than the
1000 sq ft home in St. Pete. Since I am a senior citizen, I pay
no school tax which along with Homestead Exemption reduces my
taxes significantly.

OK, St. Pete tax accessors don't give me a Homestead Exemption, I
am good with that, but because I saved and brought property in your
city years ago, do not tax me like I am a freeloader, but treat me
as a contributor to the St. Pete economy.

If I was able to vote for the government of St. Pete, I'd bet that
I would not have to pay an additional tax every year.

EVER HEARD OF TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION ??

The point is being missed. The very notion that property taxes should rise just because the market value goes up is a total misunderstanding of the purpose of taxes. Taxes are collected to provide services to those who need them. Someone who is already here needs no more services than they EVER had before. If the newcomers are paying more taxes then all is right in the universe as they are the ones causing the extra infrastructure expenses. Someone who has remained in the same area for many years does NOT need a bigger water and sewage plant or 4-6 lanes roads, the ones that were here before were JUST FINE! All levels of government leaders salivate at the chance to get their greedy hands on more taxpayer money and the Save our Homes laws are one way to make sure the PROPER taxpayers are footing the bills THEY have created. Property taxes should NOT be tied to value of homes, they should be tied to the cost of needed services! Just because a house value doubles over a year does NOT mean the cost of road building goes up the same! Government worms--keep your hands OFF of OUR money!

"TAXES" IS THE MOST HATED WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE; HOWEVER, "PROPERTY TAXES" ARE LOVED WITH EQUAL ENTHUSIASM. THE PROBLEM IS THAT MONEY HAS NEVER BEEN CONSIDERED "PROPERTY". TO ESTABLISH UNIFORMITY, ALL WEALTH SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO TAX. A HOME IS NOT WEALTH. IT IS THE CORE OF ALL EXISTENCE. THE BASIC NEED FOR A SECURE AND SUFFICIENT SHELTER SHOULD NOT ONLY BE FREE OF ANY TAX, BUT NURTURED BY THE GOVERNMENT WHICH HAS BEEN CONCEIVED TO SERVE IT. IT SHOULD NOT BE DEFINED AS THE SUSTAINING FORCE FOR THAT GOVERNMENT. FREEING THE AVERAGE HOME FROM ANY TAX COULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST STABILIZING ELEMENTS IN SOCIETY AND IN COMING YEARS, CHANGE MUCH OF THE WAY WE LIVE.

Its time for Florida to step up and take the hit. The only fair way out of this proprety tax mess is to initate a State Income Tax. We could all pay our fair share based on what we earned. Property taxes shouled be rolled back to the 1995 levels and then tied to the rate of inflation. Also the sales tax loop holes should be closed.
The "Lottery Lie" should be righted. Lottery money should inhance the school budget, not replace it.
Public money should remain that! Not funneled into private schools. Lets fix the Florida school system. Not detract from it!
Privatization has not saved a penney. It has only cost many people their jobs. It gives away cost control and quality control, nothing more. Execpt it does line the pockets of the well connected. Right JEB!

I am a long time resident of Pinellas Co. A few years ago I was laid off from my job of 26 years and had to move to another state to remain employed. I had planned on retiring in a few years and living here, having grown up and lived in Florida since 1961.
I had purchased my house in 1990 and planned on keeping it. I wasn't up to speed on the tax law, and I decided to rent the house while I was gone in order to be able to keep it. Boom! Lost my homestead, which I expected, but my taxes doubled. I am back home now and can barely Afford the tax bill.
The taxes should be based on assessed value. They should be lowered for all, and capped at the rate of inflation.

They've had this same law in California for 27 years: Proposition 13 was a huge turning point - (the key phrase in this article: "wealth transfer to the retirees")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_13

What's interesting is that, prior to the law being enacted, California was famous for having some of the best schools and SAT scores in the country, and every year since then, as they scramble to pay teachers decent wages with higher overhead costs with only nominal revenue increases, the schools and scores have steadily worsened. Meanwhile, to cover their costs, local sales taxes have gone through the roof.

Fortunately (haha!) Florida schools won't have to worry about such a precipitous fall - being on the ground floor in academics means you can't do much worse.

My wife and I moved to the Tampa area a year and a half ago, both have good jobs and make decent money. However, I've looked at the tax records and even with the sky-rocketing prices around here, the idea of paying $5000-$7000 more per year than everybody else on the street is nauseating. Think about it - buying now will cost you over $300,000 more in taxes than the next guy over the next 30 years.

Enough is enough. We're now looking to move out of the state. Let the other suckers subsidize the geazers.

I voted for save our homes as it seemed fair to current homeowners. A fews years ago I say that the idea seemed good, but was heading south. I sold my home and upgraded as this would not be possible in the future due to the tax differences. Sold in 2002 paying 2200 annually in taxes. Paid 160,000 more for the new home and anticipated 5000 in taxes and guess what....I pay 7100 in taxes. This is unaffordable for me and this was 2 1/2 years ago.

I work in the insurance business, in personal lines, and each day hear a new story of how this is effecting people. The current trend is people are moving out of FLORIDA due to taxes and homeowners insurance. No particular state, just out of Florida. People who are staying cant move. My estimate is 80% of the current residents cany afford to buy back their own homes. We will lose the working class if this does not change. The retired persons on a fixed income cant stay, and this is truly sad.

How about a penny tax for property taxes and a revamp of milage...OH and a penny tax for a catastrophic fund for homeowners insurance. This will not hurt the person living on social security realy only purchasing lifes necessary items that are not taxed.

I am glad it is not my job to fix it, but it does not fixing...and SOON!

The underlying problem to this tax discrimination against new buyers and business owners is that established residents who have the greatest political clout have little concern for increased government spending because they are shielded somewhat from runaway tax increases. The solution is to enact a revenue neutral tax rate statute where millage rates decrease in response to increases in value. Another way would be to put a save our homes-like cap on increased tax revenues rather than taxing as a percentage of assessed value.

As a long time resident owning a home on the water for 20 years, I am one of the lucky ones getting a break in taxes. I can feel your pain though. If I want to sell my house and move down the street or upgrade my home to potential survive a hurricane, I go in about the same tax bracket as a new resident. These higher taxes also are the reason people aren’t buying waterfront homes now. Believe it or not they will pay the high prices for the waterfront home; they just don’t want the high recurring annual taxes. We also need to keep an eye on where these windfall taxes are going. If I know government, they will spend it rather then save it for a rainy day (real rainy, like a hurricane).

There is one more issue that doesn’t calculate when you look at high taxes for newcomers. Looking at the "Tampa Bay Economic Scorecard" I found some disturbing averages that just don’t fit with our current tax structure. Ranking on a national basis from 1 to 5 and 5 being the highest, we rank 5 in the cost of homes (which equates to taxes) and 1 in average wages. If you don’t have the high paying jobs that can support the high cost of homes and taxes, then people won’t relocate here. That by the way is already happening. Even two family incomes are having a problems paying for homes and taxes in this area. The only people coming here are people who have cashed out their northern real estate and stocks and are semi-retired or retired. These people unfortunately don’t help our employment talent pool that could attract corporations to move here that could bring the high paying jobs. There was a great discussion about all this on USF Public Radio two weeks ago. Trust me the regional officials know our region’s low scoring in job wages and education with high housing cost and taxes just don’t calculate. Something needs to be done.

The situation is not unique to Florida; many other states have similar laws in place to protect all homeowners. The premise to these laws is simple, and especially applicable to the market conditions of the last decade. That being, a person who bought a home 20 years ago shouldn't have to pay property taxes rising 10, 20 or even 30% a year because real estate investors and house "flippers" have driven values to artificially inflated heights. With this protection in place the only time a property's taxes are adjusted to reflect fair market value is at the point of sale.

While on the micro-level this may appear unfair, on the macro-level the policy is inherently fair as it benefits everyone equally. I bought property, invested in the neighborhood, and benefited from the 3% cap as my property value went through the roof. My neighbor sold their home recently and my new neighbors "A" are certainly paying much higher taxes then I am, as their property is now being taxed at its full fair market value. However, that new neighbor "A" is also benefiting from the 3% cap. When another new neighbor "B" moves in across the street a few years from now, new neighbor "A" will be paying less taxes than new neighbor "B". And as new folks move in, "B" will be paying less then them and so on, with the benefit benefiting everyone.

I know it isn't fun paying higher taxes than the guy next door (which I do too). However, I imagine it is less fun selling my home 5 years from now because I can no longer afford the taxes.

As for the Homestead Exemption - that concept needs some revision. When it was put place the average home value was much lower. Subsequently, $25,000 represented a much larger portion of the home's value, now it is a drop in the bucket. This law would be fairer if it were a percentage of the home's value at the time of purchase. If one buys a home for $200,000 then one gets taxed on $200,000 and one gets to write off the first 30% (or whatever) of that purchase price. If one pays $400,000 for a house one gets taxed on $400,000, but gets to write off 30% (or whatever) of that purchase price - and so on. In this way both taxes and tax exemptions are tied to the same relative value.