Dear Property Tax Reform Supporter:
The special session on property taxes has begun.
As expected, those who do not support property tax relief have begun their assault on the proposed agreement between the House and Senate. The special interests in Tallahassee do not have the political courage to reveal their opposition to property tax reductions, so instead they hide behind attacks on the process and on specifics of the plan. Their goal is to keep anything from happening at all because they simply do not trust the people of Florida to make the final decision on how much they want to be taxed on their homes and properties.
I wanted to take a moment to address some of the issues that have been raised.
Issue #1: The Plan Does Not Cut Enough
I agree with this concern! However, we must get a plan on the table. The good news is that this plan is an almost $32 billion tax cut?the largest in Florida?s history. You may recall that at the end of the regular session, the Senate was proposing as $12 billion tax cut. Now they have agreed to a $32 billion tax cut. It does fall short of the House?s original $44 billion tax reduction plan, but this plan is a significant reduction, and we need to take this first step forward.
There is some confusion about the statutory rollback. This is not just a rollback to 2006. It is a rollback to 2006 AND an additional cut of between 3% and 9% depending on how the city or county has treated taxes over the last five years. It is also important to remember that this is only the first part of the plan. The second part of the plan provides a super-sized homestead exemption that would help 73% of homeowners reduce their taxes by an average 44%!
Yesterday and again today, aparade of local elected and appointed officials have appeared before the House Policy and Budget Council to say these tax cutswill be too big. Their opposition to this plan is a clear sign that it is a significant tax reduction.
Issue #2: The Plan Would Eliminate Save Our Homes and it Does Nothing for Small Businesses or Owners of Second Homes
This is simply wrong. We are not just getting rid of Save Our Homes. We are getting rid of Save Our Homes for homeowners AND we are replacing it with a new cap on taxes for everyone.
Under this plan, all properties, homestead and non-homestead alike will have the benefit of a tax cap based on the growth of personal income. Now the growth in the tax burden will mirror people?s ability to pay. Over the last five years property taxes have grown by 83% while personal income has grown by only 38%. The new cap will close that gap forever.
Applying a new cap that applies to everyone provides portability, and it helps business as well. They will no longer face massive year to year increases.
Even as I write this, the opponents of property tax relief are working to keep this from passing. They didn't like our original plan because it provided a revenue source to replace the lost revenue (a sales tax). Now they don't like this plan because it doesn't replace the revenue. They complained that the process was moving too slow. Now they complain that it is moving too fast. They opposed our original plan because it didn't include school taxes, now they complain because it does. In essence, the opponents to our first plan have opposed every other plan that has been offered. To sum up their position, they want to cut property taxes, but they don't want to cut taxes.
This compromise is not what the leadership of the House wanted. This is not the plan we originally introduced and passed. I continue to believe that we should not tax home ownership at all.
I believe that there is more work to do, but at this moment the choice before us is not between this plan and some better plan. The choice is between this plan and the existing system. I can assure you that this plan is much better than the existing system and should be viewed as the first step on the road to reform.
In about 24 hours, your Senator and your Representative will have the opportunity to vote for the largest tax cut in Florida's history. Before that vote, please know that they will get an enormous amount of pressure from the opponents of property tax reform. Many of these opponents are here in Tallahassee, and their expenses are being paid by the very people who they are lobbying against--the taxpayer.
Your legislator also needs to hear from you!
Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
Speaker, Florida House of Representatives
The special session on property taxes has begun.
As expected, those who do not support property tax relief have begun their assault on the proposed agreement between the House and Senate. The special interests in Tallahassee do not have the political courage to reveal their opposition to property tax reductions, so instead they hide behind attacks on the process and on specifics of the plan. Their goal is to keep anything from happening at all because they simply do not trust the people of Florida to make the final decision on how much they want to be taxed on their homes and properties.
I wanted to take a moment to address some of the issues that have been raised.
Issue #1: The Plan Does Not Cut Enough
I agree with this concern! However, we must get a plan on the table. The good news is that this plan is an almost $32 billion tax cut?the largest in Florida?s history. You may recall that at the end of the regular session, the Senate was proposing as $12 billion tax cut. Now they have agreed to a $32 billion tax cut. It does fall short of the House?s original $44 billion tax reduction plan, but this plan is a significant reduction, and we need to take this first step forward.
There is some confusion about the statutory rollback. This is not just a rollback to 2006. It is a rollback to 2006 AND an additional cut of between 3% and 9% depending on how the city or county has treated taxes over the last five years. It is also important to remember that this is only the first part of the plan. The second part of the plan provides a super-sized homestead exemption that would help 73% of homeowners reduce their taxes by an average 44%!
Yesterday and again today, aparade of local elected and appointed officials have appeared before the House Policy and Budget Council to say these tax cutswill be too big. Their opposition to this plan is a clear sign that it is a significant tax reduction.
Issue #2: The Plan Would Eliminate Save Our Homes and it Does Nothing for Small Businesses or Owners of Second Homes
This is simply wrong. We are not just getting rid of Save Our Homes. We are getting rid of Save Our Homes for homeowners AND we are replacing it with a new cap on taxes for everyone.
Under this plan, all properties, homestead and non-homestead alike will have the benefit of a tax cap based on the growth of personal income. Now the growth in the tax burden will mirror people?s ability to pay. Over the last five years property taxes have grown by 83% while personal income has grown by only 38%. The new cap will close that gap forever.
Applying a new cap that applies to everyone provides portability, and it helps business as well. They will no longer face massive year to year increases.
Even as I write this, the opponents of property tax relief are working to keep this from passing. They didn't like our original plan because it provided a revenue source to replace the lost revenue (a sales tax). Now they don't like this plan because it doesn't replace the revenue. They complained that the process was moving too slow. Now they complain that it is moving too fast. They opposed our original plan because it didn't include school taxes, now they complain because it does. In essence, the opponents to our first plan have opposed every other plan that has been offered. To sum up their position, they want to cut property taxes, but they don't want to cut taxes.
This compromise is not what the leadership of the House wanted. This is not the plan we originally introduced and passed. I continue to believe that we should not tax home ownership at all.
I believe that there is more work to do, but at this moment the choice before us is not between this plan and some better plan. The choice is between this plan and the existing system. I can assure you that this plan is much better than the existing system and should be viewed as the first step on the road to reform.
In about 24 hours, your Senator and your Representative will have the opportunity to vote for the largest tax cut in Florida's history. Before that vote, please know that they will get an enormous amount of pressure from the opponents of property tax reform. Many of these opponents are here in Tallahassee, and their expenses are being paid by the very people who they are lobbying against--the taxpayer.
Your legislator also needs to hear from you!
Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
Speaker, Florida House of Representatives
