New Property Tax Law Ineffective in Lee County

With property taxes in the state a major hold-up for many thinking about a Florida home mortgage, the following is sobering news:

A tax break for seniors that was passed by voters in November really won’t have much of an impact in the Lee County housing market.

County commissioners say the requirements for the property tax break - that the homeowner is older than 65 and makes less than $20,000 per year - hit a relatively small segment of the population.

The senior tax exemption is a owners and any future Florida home loan applications that do actually qualify, taking another $20,000 off the assessed value of the property on top of the $25,000 exemption for full-time Florida residents.

Commissioner Bob Janes estimates the total amount the county to lose in taxes is $800,000 - a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of tax dollars the county brings in each year.

“It helps a minor segment but it does not by any means get to the overall inequities with the property tax,” Janes said.

Janes says the county should adopt the new exemption - the only problem is that the deadline to do so was December 1st. This doesn’t bode for for fixing issues such as mortgage defaults in the region.

“We need to find out if we still can do it or if it’s too late,” Janes said.