Editorial: Slashing Property Taxes May Not Be Prudent

The following appears in the May 29 issue of Florida Today, and offers a different perspective to the many voices we’ve heard on the property tax issue to date.
For months, Floridians have been tempted by groups of lawmakers with the idea of deep cuts in property taxes that would miraculously have no effect on local services.

It’s been sold as a grassroots movement, springing up from ordinary folks as they pondered tax and Florida mortgage bills on the counter.

But as the first installment in a Florida Today project called The Tax Divide shows, the stampede to slash taxes didn’t spring unbidden from anyone’s kitchen.

It’s the result of major interests fighting for influence, power and profit.

Final numbers aren’t in, and those that are in are reported in wide ranges.

But so far, reports show that among those backing the movement, partially in hopes of boosting a falling Florida housing market, are area home builders, developers, real estate interests and other businesses.

They paid from $4.9 million to $13 million to get the ear of lawmakers just from January through March.

That doesn’t count the power of those groups to buttonhole legislators, set up anti-tax demonstrations in Brevard County and across the state, and otherwise boost their goal.

Nor does it include the deep-pocket support offered by people connected with national anti-tax groups that have their own agendas.

There are also the ambitious politicians for whom the anti-tax stand is not just a way to provide Florida home mortgage relief, but a means of climbing the career ladder.

For example, before the Legislature’s regular session started in March, the state’s real estate industry gave Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-Palm Beach Gardens, $25,000 for his property tax focused campaign for Senate president.

Education, courts and local governments, trying to protect the revenue they use to do their work, have been heavy-hitters too, spending from $3-9 million to warn that deep tax cuts will require equally deep cuts in public services.

If cuts are as severe as threatened in Tallahassee, those fears are fully justified. Which brings us to a critical point you might have missed amid all the hoopla:

Should property taxes be eliminated or slashed to an irresponsible degree, Florida will fast become known as more than the Sunshine State.

It will be a No Income Tax and Little or No Property Tax State, triggering a tsunami of new residents, an explosion of developments, worsening traffic jams and more crowded classrooms.

But, as a result of the Legislature’s actions, there will be far too little money to effectively deal with the problems.

We’re not saying there’s not plenty of genuine support for tax cuts - there is.

Or that there’s not a need for reasonable alterations in our property tax system - there is.

Jumps in property values have sent tax bills soaring for landlords and commercial real estate owners, and stymied some people trying to buy new homes or move.

But it wasn’t until the recent housing slowdown, worsened by the brutal rise in property insurance rates, that taxes became such a red-hot issue to these major players.

Keep that in mind as the push for tax cuts plays out in the coming special session. And keep in mind what the ultimate cost might be to you.

SOURCE: Florida Today