Lawmakers could vote on property tax relief next week
 
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Oct. 11, 2007 – Florida lawmakers will remain in special session into next week to take up a new but more modest property tax relief plan than an earlier one a judge has removed from the ballot, legislative leaders said Wednesday.
 
The current budget-cutting session was supposed to end Friday, but House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt said they’ll extend it through Oct. 22 if necessary to approve a new tax plan.
 
There’s urgency because the proposed state constitutional amendment lawmakers approved in June has been taken off the Jan. 29 presidential primary ballot. A judge ruled the ballot summary is misleading and inaccurate.
 
A replacement must get legislative approval by the end of October or else it would have to wait until a later date to go before voters.
 
The new version being pushed by Gov. Charlie Crist would not cut property taxes as deeply as the original measure, but Rubio said he expected the Legislature, constitutional Budget and Tax Reform Commission or citizens groups to come up with other proposals next year.
 
“We understand and know that this doesn’t go far enough,” Rubio said. “This is hopefully the first step in a multiple-step process.”
 
Crist said taxes should be cut quickly to stimulate Florida’s economy. About $1.1 billion in cuts to the state’s $71 billion budget awaiting final votes in the Legislature are in response to a tax revenue shortfall caused mainly by a drop in the housing market.
 
“I think we’ll have an outburst of real estate business, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Crist said. “We want to gin up and fire up this economic engine we call Florida.”
 
Crist and the two legislative leaders have given up on the previous proposal’s main provision. It would have phased out existing tax breaks for homeowners in favor of a “super exemption.” Lawmakers had estimated that could have saved taxpayers between $8 billion and $16 billion in the next four years.
 
The governor’s new plan is estimated to save taxpayers $6.3 billion to $8.3 billion in the same span. It’s essentially the same proposal Crist advocated as a candidate last year.
 
His plan would double the existing $25,000 exemption for primary homes, known as homesteads, and include a “portability” provision that would let homeowners take at least part of their existing tax breaks with them when they move.
 
The doubled homestead exemption would be applied in a split manner: The first $25,000 of a home’s value would be exempt, the second $25,000 would be taxed and the third $25,000 would be exempt.
 
Crist’s plan also would give businesses a $25,000 exemption on equipment and other personal property and provide an extra 25 percent tax cut for first-time homeowners.
 
The higher homestead and first-time buyer exemptions, though, would not apply to school taxes.
 
“It’s a good day for Florida taxpayers whenever you’re talking about adding another $6 billion in tax cuts to the billions of dollars that were already cut this year,” Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, said in a statement.
 
Lawmakers in June also passed legislation designed to save up to $15 billion over this year and the next four years by rolling back and capping local property taxes. It’ll be somewhat less, though, because many cities and counties have exercised an option to exceed their caps through votes of more than a simple majority.
 
The estimated first-year (2008) savings for homeowners under Crist’s plan would average $214 with an additional $831 for those who move and $492 more for first-time buyers.
 
Rubio, of West Miami, and other House Republican leaders Wednesday proposed several more tax cuts that would increase the four-year savings to about $11 billion.
 
They would eliminate all property taxes for low-income senior citizens – age 65 and older – and offer targeted relief to affordable housing, marinas and other “working waterfront” properties and energy-efficient homes and businesses.
 
Other parts of the House GOP plan would make it easier for taxpayers to win property value challenges and require Miami-Dade County’s now-appointed property appraiser be elected as all others are.
 
The new plan would do little, though, to eliminate tax inequalities resulting from the existing Save Our Homes Amendment, which caps annual assessment increases at 3 percent for homesteads.
 
That has shifted tax burden to businesses, second homes and other non-homestead properties and to new home buyers. Sharp increases in property values over the past several years have exacerbated the differences.
 
The stricken proposal would have reduced the inequities by phasing out Save Our Homes. Homeowners could have kept their Save Our Homes benefits or chosen the super exemption: 75 percent off the first $200,000 of a home’s value and 15 percent off the next $300,000. When a home changed ownership, though, only the super exemption could have applied.
 
Save Our Homes now does not let homeowners take their benefits to a new home. The super exemption would have partly addressed that issue while the governor’s proposal would rely on the portability provision.
 
© 2007 The Associated Press, Bill Kaczor, Associated Press Writer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.