The debate over swapping property taxes for sales taxes -- the core of Amendment 5 -- began to ferment on Tuesday. Opponents staged a forum in Pembroke Pines and derided it as the ''largest tax increase in state history.'' And the Broward County School Board hosted a workshop to spell out how it hopes to defeat the plan.
Larger homestead exemptions in 2008 will lower property taxes for most homeowners. Here is how Mayor Carlos Alvarez's tax proposal would affect two homes in unincorporated Miami-Dade. The examples assume the homes' taxable value increases 3 percent per year, the most allowed under Florida law. Results would be different for non-homestead property and property inside municipalities.
With a wink and nod, the House approved two proposed constitutional amendments Wednesday to ask voters to drastically cut taxes in Florida -- knowing a reluctant Senate won't go along because it wants to wait until the billions of tax cuts made last year take effect.
