I will use my first post on LURT to pose a question about local taxes. Referring to amendment 1 in Florida, I usually always vote in a manner to lower my tax burden (i.e. I voted yes). I believe that the government should instead, a) cut needless spending and most importantly b) cut waste.
The main argument for voting "no" on the amendment was that basic services would be cut due to decreased tax revenues. However, as far as I can see, the population is growing thus increasing the tax base. Housing prices and assessments have also increased so people buying new homes are paying higher property tax rates - another thing that should increase tax revenues. So where the hell is all of this extra tax revenue going and have our basic services gotten so expensive that they now cost so much more than the amount of the extra tax revenue?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Florida Tax Amendment
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2 comments:
My main reason for voting "NO" was entirely different. I found it very hard to vote NO because I did not like agreeing with the scare mongers who said we would loose our police and fire fighters if it passed.
I voted NO two reasons.
First was that this does not fix the root cause. This expands the number of people who's taxes are capped by making it portable. But first time home buyers in florida will still be hit by FULL SIZED property taxes. This will create a large differences in the taxes first time buyers pay compared to long time Floridian homeowners (which is unfair) and make it harder for people to buy their first home (which is an important step linked to financial properity.)
Also, since more people are covered by the cap, cities and counties will raise the tax rate more and more to "make up" for the short fall. This will only compound the differences in tax amounts. And nothing in the amendment prevents cities and counties from increasing the tax rate to get the same or even more money.
The second reason was actually a misunderstanding on the effect this would have on people. Average savings of around $250 dollars was not going to correct tax disparagees of $6000+ dollars. I pay around $2500 in taxes, and I have friends that pay around $8000 for similar (albeit newer) houses. The change seemed like a drop in the bucket. What I didn't realize is that my $200 savings was around $1200 for other people. While not enough to make us equal, it is a significant improvement and should have been approved. luckily is was.
The question still remains, where did the increased government revenue from population expansion and increased tax rates from new home buyers(i.e. me) go ?
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