Posted on Thu, Mar. 27, 2008

The sponsor of a plan to put a strict cap on all governments' tax revenues into the state Constitution struggled to keep the issue alive Wednesday and postponed a vote on whether to put it on the November ballot.

Mike Hogan, the Duval County tax collector, said he will wait until the last meeting of the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission next week as he continues to make changes to the already watered-down plan.

He must get 17 votes from the 25-member panel to put the measure on the ballot, but he's struggling to get enough support because the measure is bitterly opposed by city and county governments and has lukewarm support from many panel members.

''It has changed so much that opponents are still arguing against elements that do not exist in the legislation today,'' Hogan said.

The plan caps revenues by creating a formula that links revenue increases to the rate of inflation and population growth, then adds one percentage point. And all new taxes and fees imposed by city or county commissioners and even the Legislature would need voter approval.

The panel heard nearly three hours of testimony, mostly from supporters, many of them from Hogan's hometown of Jacksonville.

''Should government have the ability to grow taxes faster than our ability to pay?'' asked David Biddaulph from New Smyrna Beach, an organizer for the tax-cap group Americans For Prosperity.

But several county officials warned that the proposal will force government to reduce services amid the growing costs of fuel and health insurance in today's economy.

''Revenue caps will not allows us to provide the same services year after year,'' Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorensen told the panel. ``It could hurt us all for years to come.''

Hogan said he had traveled to Colorado to study how to avoid the pitfalls of a similar revenue cap enacted there in 1992, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, known as TABOR.

''This ain't Colorado TABOR,'' he told the commission. ``And, by the way, Colorado TABOR ain't as bad as you heard.''

But Kristie Hargrove traveled from Crested Butte, Colo., to argue otherwise. Hargrove, who calls herself a ''typical soccer mom,'' told the panel that though she is a ''fiscally conservative Republican'' who wants to limit government, ``there are some things that government has to be about.''

She said she got involved in trying to repeal the TABOR tax cap after her school board had decided that in order to save money, thermostats would be lowered so much students would have to wear parkas to school.

'The sound bite is so easy: `Just say no, it's your dough,' '' she said. ``It's been devastating for us.''

To get out from under the cap, she said, local government voted to exceed the caps, then raised fees and property taxes and created special taxing districts to pay for needs.

The commission panel will vote on whether to put Hogans' proposal on the ballot at the April 4 meeting.