When Florida Real Estate Taxes Attack!

Numerous individuals and families take out a Florida home mortgage on a vacation house. Who can blame them? Miles of beachfront property make this an ideal state to spend time in.

Only if you can afford it, that is. A recent letter to a Tampa Bay newspaper focused on a troubling issue regarding Florida property taxes.

A woman and her husband purchased their “retirement” home in Pinellas County 10 years ago, but couldn’t move in at that time. A decade later, they’re ready to do so - but exorbitant taxes are causing a new problem. During this time, the house they had used a Florida mortgage loan on to purchase has appreciated 250 percent, but their property taxes have increased 500 percent.

The latter figure ha sky-rocketed from $3,000 a year to $14,491. A piece of property on the same street, meanwhile, has a similar assessed market value, but its taxes are just $4,000. It’s a distressing, confusing discrepancy.

As this owner rightfully compalins, “something stinks in the state of Florida, and it isn’t the Red Tide.” Why should out-of-state property owners be discriminated against? They spent their money and took out a Florida home mortgage loan like any resident. It doesn’t seem fair.

The woman may seem extreme, but you can understand her point when she closes the letter by stating: “Our forefathers fought England on the principle of taxation without representation, and currently Florida is following these same unfair practices.”