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.
HOUSE | PROPERTY TAXES
Property taxes may not have dropped like a rock, but a measure to set in stone a 1.35 percent yearly cap in the growth of all future property-tax bills got hearings in the House and Senate on Wednesday.
TAX AMENDMENTS
Voters may face multiple tax proposals on ballot The state citizen panel with the power to put constitutional amendments on the ballot nears the end of its once-every-20-years review of state tax policy Friday with a packed agenda that may put as many as nine more proposals before voters in November.
EDUCATION
If Florida voters decide in November to do away with most of the local property taxes used to fund public schools, most South Florida educators simply don't believe legislators will make up for the lost revenue.
SCHOOLS
If Florida voters decide in November to do away with most of the local property taxes used to fund public schools, most South Florida educators simply don't believe legislators will make up for the lost revenue.
TAXES
The property-tax swap put on Florida's November ballot last week by the Taxation and Budget Commission faces its first test Friday -- over words.
LEGISLATURE | REAL ESTATE MARKET
Proposed property tax relief could give a boost to South Florida's beleaguered real estate industry, pushing skittish home buyers off the fence and easing the burden on commercial property owners, industry leaders said Tuesday.
LEGISLATURE | AMENDMENTS
Florida's best chance of voting on another property-tax revision this year happens Monday, when the state tax panel that has the ability to put constitutional amendments directly on the November ballot votes on three proposals.
LEGISLATION
A proposal to ask voters to impose a yearly cap on the money collected by governments in Florida, from tiny towns all the way to the state Legislature, will come to a vote Wednesday before the powerful state tax commission.
FLORIDA CONSTITUTION
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.
The crowd was large and the passion intense as the 530 people, mostly from Miami-Dade County, traveled to Tallahassee Tuesday to tell legislators to stay focused on giving them property tax relief.
PROPERTY TAXES
The loudest opponents of the property-tax swap going before voters in November are lobbyists for major corporations and future legislative leaders who would be stuck with the plan's heavy lifting: $9.6 billion in sales tax increases, budget cuts and other revenue hikes.
The tax cut that voters will be asked to approve in November will do more than save property owners money. It will force lawmakers to do what they have refused to do for nearly 70 years: modernize sales-tax rules to raise revenue from products and services that have never been taxed.
The clearest aspects of Florida's biggest tax overhaul effort on November's ballot: billions in savings all but guaranteed for property owners and a just-as-likely sales-tax increase.
For the second time in a year, Florida voters will go to the polls with an opportunity to trim their own property taxes. But the tax measure has Florida school districts queasy about the prospect of shrinking revenues and bulging class sizes.
One of the biggest tax cuts in state history is headed for the November ballot, after a powerful state commission voted Monday to put an amendment before voters that would scrap most of the portion of local property taxes that goes to schools.
As the March 3 deadline approaches for applying for homestead and property-tax portability, many homeowners are still puzzling over how the new portability measure works.
TALLAHASSEE -- A Miami member of the powerful commission that can put tax issues directly before voters will ask the panel Monday to approve a multibillion dollar property tax cut plan.
Q. We sold our home in Palmetto Bay in July 2007 and will close on a condo apartment in May. By the property appraiser's March 3 deadline, we will not have our old homestead exemption and we will not be able to apply for portability. In other words, we appear to be in limbo.
The compromise property tax plan pushed by the governor and Republican legislative leaders continued to run into trouble Tuesday, as House and Senate committees tinkered with the plan, and started to unravel the carefully crafted deal.
Florida voters sent a loud message Tuesday that they want lower property taxes, but will the new constitutional amendment mean reductions on their next tax bill? Are more tax cuts likely?
A Miami member of the powerful commission that can put tax issues directly before voters will ask the panel Monday to approve a multibillion dollar property tax cut plan.
Endowed with high voter approval ratings and an ambitious agenda, Gov. Charlie Crist cashed in his political currency to back two campaigns and on Tuesday won the Daily Double.
With polls showing that passage of a property tax amendment is no sure bet, Gov. Charlie Crist spent Wednesday barnstorming across the state and trading accusations with opponents about the true impact of the measure that goes before voters on Jan. 29.
Florida's powerful housing industry is hoping state lawmakers' bid to revise property taxes will inject life into the anemic real estate market.
Gov. Charlie Crist hits the road Wednesday to push his property tax amendment with the help of some of the state's largest industries that have a stake in earning the governor's favor in the months ahead.
Gov. Charlie Crist started a two-day statewide fly-around Tuesday to ''campaign like the dickens'' for a new property tax plan that was roundly criticized -- yet still passed -- by the Florida Legislature.
