Florida Passes Tax Reform Amendment

As of 11:40 p.m. the precincts are still reporting, but it looks like Amendment 1 (Florida's Property Tax Reform Amendment) has passed by a pretty wide margin. So, let's recap again what this Amendment means:

• "Doubles" the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000. However, the 2nd $25k does not apply to school taxes (~30% of most property tax bills), so it's more like an additonal $15,000 exemption. (Assuming a 2% tax rate thats about $300).
• Portability of Save Our Homes. SOH is Florida's cap on how much your property taxes can go up in a year. Previous to this amendment passing, once you sold your home and moved, you lost your built up savings and had to start again in your new home. Now, take a good portion of it with you.
• Snowbird only living in Florida part time (non-homesteaded)? Your property tax increases will now be capped at 10% per year. Big whup now you say... but if there's ever a time like 2003-2006 when property taxes nearly doubled for some folks, you'll be happy with this change.

Time will tell if this is *the* spark that the Florida real estate market needs. Those on the fence don't have too many excuses left to wait now.

Two Weeks Until Florida Property Tax Vote

Two weeks from today on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Floridians will step into the voting booths... hanging chads and all... and decide on an important property tax measure.

If approved, the measure, among other things, will serve two main purposes:

1) It will "double" the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000 (Uh, not really double...read what I'm talking about here) and

2) It will also provide portability of the Save Our Homes Tax (Not sure what that is? Learn more here)

You can read more about the property tax bill at http://www.yeson1florida.com/amendment_1.php

Also, this past weekend I read a good (good meaning funny) column in a local paper which "answers some questions" about this whole Florida property tax issue. Think you'll enjoy it!

My favorite question and its "brilliant" answer:

North Carolina Transfer Tax Goes Down...in flames

A few months back I blogged about the proposed North Carolina transfer tax and what it would mean to buyers and sellers in North Carolina.

Yesterday the people had their say in 16 North Carolina Counties and unanimously defeated the measure.

This paves the way for North Carolina to continue to be a lower cost alternative to baby boomers thinking about where to hang their hats for their glory years.

Florida Double Homestead Exemption is really Double-ish

After months of back and forth like they do best, the Florida House and Senate came to a compromise on a new property tax plan to send to voters on January 29th.

And there's nothing like waiting until the last minute. The plan had to be approved by both the House and Senate by the end of October 29 (90 days out from the special election). They made it by a couple of hours.

Here are the basics that could impact homeowners if the bill passes in January:

(Not Quite) Double homestead exemption: Homestead property owners will get a second $25,000 exemption on the assessed value on the value of their homes over $50,000. BUT, because this doesn't apply to school taxes (and because school taxes account for nearly 1/3 of the tax bill) the net result is closer to an additional $16,000 exemption.

Every politician I've heard touting this plan keeps saying "double" because it sounds so good...but its NOT double! Not saying voters should reject it, just calling a spade a spade.

Portability: This was one of the key issues that politicians and real estate agents *think* is really going to spark the Florida housing market. Homesteaders will be able to take up to $500,000 of Save Our Homes protections to a new home purchase. If you are downsizing you can take a pro-rated portion of the tax protections.

While some folks will now be able to downsize their homes as well as their tax bill, I don't see this being the boost to the housing market that some would hope.

Assessment cap for non-homestead property: Assessments would increase no more than 10 percent each year on non-homestead property.

This could have been the boost the Florida housing market needed. The original plan was to cap this at 5% but that didn't get accomplished. The fact that people who buy homes in Florida to enjoy as second homes, not primary residences and therefore unable to Homestead, don't have better protection than this, simply means that places like the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee will continue to siphon off lots of the boomers that originally had their sights set on Florida.

How to estimate Florida real estate taxes video

Just put a quick video up on Florida for Boomers about how to figure out what your Florida real estate taxes might be.

The tax calculations are based on certain criteria that you input such as sales price, and whether or not you qualify for the homestead exemption.

Not all Florida counties have this feature on their website, but I'd say most do by now.

• Start at the Florida Information page of FloridaforBoomers.com
• Click on "List of County Property Appraiser's Websites
• Select the county you are interested in
• Look for a link to "property tax calculator"
  
• Fill in the required data like price, millage rate, homestead and click calculate
  

Florida's New Property Tax Laws Explained

Well, if you follow Florida real estate at all, you've probably long since heard that Florida passed some new property tax laws a few weeks ago. What you may NOT know, however, is what to make of it. For what it's worth, here's my take on it.

1) To begin, what was done probably wasn't enough to cause any real change in Florida's lousy real estate market. Homesteader's in Florida were helped out a little. By that I mean a 3-9% reduction on their next tax bill. So at the most, if your tax bill is $5000 you MIGHT save $450. At the most. That's a night in a fancy hotel, dinner, and drinks...maybe even top shelf drinks. In my book not enough to get me too excited.

2) If you live outside of Florida but own property here (non-homesteaded) you didn't get much help either. By most accounts I've seen, you won't save anything. But, your taxes might not go up like they have been because...

3) Millage rates will be rolled back to 2006-2007 levels. (Basically 1-year). Most Florida taxpayers were hoping for much more, legislators are telling us, hey, at least its something, and city leaders (who have to roll back their spending) are saying its too much...Go figure!

4) Up next for Florida voters will be a chance in January to increase the homestead exemption (currently $25,000 in most cases) to what is called a super-exemption or, 75% of the first $200k in value (Minimum of $50k exemption)


As always, we'll keep you posted as things progress. But for now, put away any immediate hopes of huge property tax reform in the sunshine state.

Sorry, Charlie: No Florida property tax relief yet

Florida Governor Charlie Christ's first legislative session has ended without any sign of property tax relief in the immediate future. A special session has been called for June, but consensus here is that not much will come from it. The best most lawmakers think they can agree on in that session would be a roll-back of property tax rates and a cap on them rising. Better than nothing.

But any real reform will have to wait...perhaps for a while. The House and Senate cannot come to an agreement on what is the responsible solution to Florida's property tax problem. Lawmakers are citing a desire to cross the t's and dot the i's properly this time. Once they do agree, or at least come to a compromise, voters would have their say. If lawmakers can't come together on it this June, this may not happen until November 2008.

Florida Property Tax Gridlock

From FloridaCapitalNews.com:

"TALLAHASSEE -- Legislative negotiators officially declared gridlock Tuesday on the radical idea of abolishing all property taxes on resident homeowners by raising sales taxes - the centerpiece of House Speaker Marco Rubio's reform.
House Republicans have refused to budge from their demands to give a whopping multibillion-dollar relief plan to voters, while the Senate has steadfastly refused to consider a sales tax increase."

It sounds to me like Governor Christ's more conservative plan of rolling back property taxes and then capping them has a better chance of meeting with both House and Senate approval.

Read the full story here.

North Carolina "Home Tax" transfer tax increase in the works

Buying and selling a home in North Carolina might get a little bit more expensive later this year if some local leaders and legislators have their way. NC already has a .2% deed stamp tax (by comparison, Florida's is .7%). But some people in local and state governments are saying thats not enough to fuel North Carolina's growth and want to add an additional transfer tax (Realtors opposing the measure are calling it a "Home Tax") of up to 1% ($1,000 for every $100,000 of the sales price).

Read the full article in the Greensboro News-Record

No More Property Tax

If you've been reading this blog regularly, you know that property taxes will be a hot topic in Florida for the foreseeable future. Here's more on the subject:



From the website NoMorePropertyTax.com:

"Skyrocketing property tax bills, combined with the high cost of insurance and energy, are breaking the backs of Floridians. The cumulative impact is hurting our economy and threatening our quality of life. As our wallets get skinnier, government gets fatter. Since 2000, government income from property taxes grew by 99%, while Floridians’ income only grew by an average of 44%. Floridians have the power to stop the out-of-control property tax bills and out-of-hand government spending. But we need Legislators to give us the chance to let our voice be heard. Learn more about the plan, calculate your savings under the plan and tell your Legislator you want your chance at the ballot box to vote NO to property taxes."

To learn more, and to sign a petition endorsing the plan to eliminate property tax in Florida, visit No More Property Tax

More on the possible tax revolution in Florida

Details and commentary of the Florida Legislatures Property Tax proposals can be found here:
Tax revolution in Tallahassee - Orlando Sentinel : State News Tax revolution in Tallahassee - Orlando Sentinel : State News

Whoever said 2007 would be a boring year in Florida never saw this coming.

Potentially bad news for Charlie Christ (and Florida property owners)

I previously posted about Governor Christ's plan to make Florida's property tax cap portable. Now it looks like this plan may run into some trouble.
Read:
Report doubts legality of property tax portability - South Florida Business Journal:

Florida Real Estate Taxes: Help on the way?

Boomers who are thinking of moving to Florida but have hesitated because of the rising price of property and subsequently the higher real estate taxes, may get some much needed relief soon. Governor Charlie Christ recently announced several proposals for Florida property tax reform. Among them:

• Doubling the Homestead Exemption from $25,000 to $50,000.
• Make the Save Our Homes cap portable statewide, meaning that Florida homeowners can take their current tax rate with them when they move.
• Place a cap on property taxes for businesses and landlords of the lesser of three percent or the rate of inflation. This is similar to how the Save Our Homes legislation currently protects homeowners.
• Exempting small businesses from tangible personal property taxes.

Most impacted by these proposals are local governments who would have to trim the fat and possibly a whole lot more from their budgets because of a lower property tax increase each year. Their budget will still grow, just not any faster than three percent per year. For some local governments this may not be enough to keep up with rapid growth.
We will all have to stay tuned to see whether Florida voters approve these proposals in a special election in 2007. Then, it will probably take a couple of years before we are able to determine how exactly these measures are impacting Florida property owners and local governments.

You can keep your eye on major developments of this issue by visiting the “Florida Resources” page at floridaforboomers.com

Read more: Crist calls for sweeping property tax changes