TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – April 15, 2008 – A proposal that would have capped increases in state and local government taxes, fees and other revenues failed Monday to win a place on the November ballot.

The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission removed the tax cap from a proposed state constitutional amendment. The panel then revised the proposal to, instead, require that new taxes be approved by two-thirds votes of local government bodies – or the Legislature for state taxes. The repeal of exemptions would have gone through the same process.

But the revised amendment also failed.

Opponents, including local government officials and labor unions, said either version would have violated the concept of a representative democracy and led to drastic cuts in vital services including schools, public health and safety.

Supporters, including business and anti-tax groups, argued such limits are needed to stop rapidly rising taxes, especially property taxes. They also warned that a more draconian tax limit may go before voters through a citizen initiative as soon as 2010.

“Local government should be fearful,” said Commissioner Patricia Levesque, executive director of former Gov. Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future, which advocates his education policies.

The Legislature also is considering a similar tax cap that will be heard Tuesday in the House Policy and Budget Council.

As originally offered by Commissioner Mike Hogan, Duval County’s tax collector, the proposed amendment would have required voter approval of tax increases as well as the revenue caps.

It was based on a similar plan in Colorado called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which also is being advocated across the nation by conservative and libertarian groups.

The commission twice delayed votes on the proposal as it became clear it wouldn’t pass in that form. Hogan accepted a revision at the panel’s last meeting that removed voter approval of tax increases. It also then was modified to let the Legislature decide the details of the local government cap.

For the state, it would have limited revenue to its 2008-09 level with allowances for growth based on inflation and population increases plus 1 percent.

When it became clear that version, too, would fail, the 25-member commission voted 14-9 to replace the cap with the two-thirds vote requirement for tax increases and exemption repeals. The commission again split 14-9 in favor of putting that version on the ballot – three votes short of the two-thirds needed.

Hogan acknowledged the final version was a good as he could get and argued it would “not choke government but restrain government.”

Opponents also argued the proposal would undercut a tax-swap amendment the commission previously approved. It would cut property tax bills about 25 percent by eliminating most school taxes. The Legislature, though, would be required to replace the lost school money – up to $9.6 billion annually – through various means including a 1 percentage point increase in Florida’s 6 percent sales tax.

In other action, the commission voted 17-6, the bare minimum, to put an amendment on the ballot to begin the collection of taxes on sales made over the Internet and by mail order.

It would require the Legislature to pass a law joining Florida with several other states that have reached an agreement with about 1,100 companies to voluntarily collect the taxes.

The commission also agreed to reconsider a school voucher proposal defeated by a single vote April 4, but the new vote also was delayed. The proposal would undo a Florida Supreme Court decision that struck down former Gov. Jeb Bush’s program letting students from failing public schools attend private schools at public expense.

The panel is scheduled on April 24 to vote on final versions of measures already approved for the ballot after they go through the panel’s Style and Drafting Committee. The commission’s ballot deadline is May 2.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press, Bill Kaczor (Associated Press Writer). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.