Quantcast wmbb.com - Florida Homeowner’s Tax Break Safe
Click Here

--- Advertisement ---

Members: Login | Register | Contact Us
Florida Homeowner’s Tax Break Safe
07/09/09 - 02:45 PM
Associated Press
 RSS Feed
click for larger image Tallahassee, Fla:

A tax break for Florida homeowners is safe. The 1st District Court of Appeal has upheld the Save Our Homes constitutional amendment.
   
The amendment caps property tax increases on primary homes at 3 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

It does not offer a tax break to non-homestead properties in Florida.

A group of Alabama residents with second homes in Florida filed suit against the amendment, arguing it discriminates against people who own property in the Sunshine State but don’t live here all the time.

A circuit court originally upheld the amendment and now the appellate court has confirmed that ruling.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who has made lower property taxes one of his main goals, applauds the ruling.
   
“Capping property taxes at no more than 3 percent increase per year is incredibly important to the people of our state and they need a break especially in these economic times, so I’m very pleased with that ruling,” Crist said.
   
“The tax burden unequally falls to non-homesteaders. So, it really is fundamentally unfair and it really disenfranchises most Florida voters and makes the political situation uninteresting to them,” Robert Weissert of Florida TaxWatch said
. Government-watchdog group Florida TaxWatch opposes the Save Our Homes amendment. Weissert says it places too much of the state’s tax burden on non-homestead properties.

The Save Our Homes amendment passed with 54 percent of the vote in 1992.

User Comments
WMBB.com requires that you be a registered site member to post comments and content.
Why Register?
First, we are not being sneaky and gathering your email or other information to sell to telemarketers or e-mail spam companies.

Registration on this site is required simply to allow us to keep people who would post discriminatory, threatening and harassing messages and comments from doing it again.

By having user registration, we hope to provide you with a better user experience. Please view WMBB.com's full Terms & Conditions