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        FLORIDA PROPERTY TAX ISSUES/NEWS REPORT

 

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Comic Relief - The new Florida State Song!

Tallahassee Refugee
John Mayeux / Producer: Maudeo / Recording Engineer: Sailor / Video created by: Trista Mayes...political music humor pirates property tax insurance Florida www.tallahasseerefugee.com

Performed and Produced by: "The Babyboomer Band-its"
Vocals: Maudeo /
Midi Drums, Clavinet, B3 Organ: Sailor /
Bass: Sandy Ross /
Strat & Slide Guitar: John Mayeux /
Producer: Maudeo /
Recording Engineer: Sailor /
Video created by: Trista Mayes (more) (less)

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Do we count? 

After watching this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEzY2tnwExs

I was convinced that we need a reliable system of voting.

I suggest that you check out this web site after watching the video.

WEBSITE: www.perfectvotingsystem.com 

DAVID BIDDULPH, Inventor “Perfect Voting System”,

CHAIRMAN—Tax Cap Committee: Retired

Email: Odemorcracy@aol.com

Executive Advisor of the "FLORIDA BALLOT INITIATIVE" committee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newspaper Articles

Text Box:  FRONT PAGE OF THE SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2007 SUN SENTINAL NEWSPAPER FORT LAUDERDALE FLORIDA Also Published in the Port Saint Newspaper, The Fort Pierce Tribune, The Stuart News Others

 

Text Box: Floridians offer their own property tax plans PSL resident among those forming citizen plans to change property tax system By By Linda Kleindienst Sun-Sentinel Originally published 01:38 p.m., November 4, 2007 Updated 01:38 p.m., November 4, 2007

Text Box: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Don't think the Legislature has done enough to curb your property tax bill? For Floridians unhappy with the tax-cutting choice that legislators put on the Jan. 29 ballot, there are 11 citizen initiatives — and counting — vying for voters' support to go on the November 2008 ballot. All of the proposals are intended to whack away at the tax rates many blame for Florida's housing slump. They range from requiring a special election and voter approval to levy any additional taxes, to fees, to eliminating property taxes, forcing the Legislature to figure out how to fund cities, counties and schools. It won't be easy for any of the ideas to make it to Election Day. It takes 611,009 signatures from registered Florida voters, certified by the supervisors of elections in the counties where they were collected, for any of the initiatives to get onto the ballot. The signatures must be certified by Feb. 1. Still, backers of the petition drives say what the Legislature did, and didn't do, last week has given them a terrific boost. "I paid my taxes, about $6,200, with a credit card this year. People are upset with the Legislature for not providing relief," said Richard Antolinez, 38, a Port St. Lucie homeowner whose Florida Ballot Initiative group is behind four of the proposals. "In any petition drive, it tends to snowball," Antolinez said. "And our Web site is now literally getting locked up by heavy traffic because of what the Legislature has done." Another state institution, the 25-member Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, can write its own proposed constitutional amendments that the state's voters could approve or reject. But the commission has only just begun debating its own ideas about how to reduce taxes and may need months to reach agreement on anything. As for the Legislature, even its most ardent proponent of cutting property taxes — House Speaker Marco Rubio — says he sees no more tax relief coming from the Capitol any time soon. "It is my belief that any meaningful, comprehensive and deep reform will have to be a citizen-led effort," said Rubio, R-West Miami, whose own bold proposal to abolish property taxes and replace the forgone revenue with an increase in the state's sales tax failed to gain enough support in Tallahassee earlier this year. "The Legislature missed an opportunity to do something historic." Rubio, who has voiced admiration of the tax-cutting done by former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, said he is considering throwing his support to one of the citizen initiative campaigns. His allies have put out feelers to several of the groups circulating the petitions, and the result could be yet another tax-chopping ballot initiative in search of voters' signatures. "Something is going to come out of this. What the Legislature did is probably better than a stick in the eye, but barely better," said Doug Guetzloe, an Orlando political consultant who is founder and chairman of Ax the Tax, one of the most venerable anti-tax groups. Over the past 20 years, the organization has worked to defeat 14 tax increase initiatives in Florida and four other states. Last year, it helped torpedo Broward County's attempt to increase its sales tax and is now promoting a plan to require voters' approval before any local government in Florida could increase its tax revenue by more than 3 percent a year. Ax the Tax also has suggested the Jan. 29 election could be a chance to gather signatures to get a new initiative on the November ballot merging ideas from several of the citizen groups. But in a state as big as Florida, where ads usually need to be purchased in many large media markets to make a dent in public opinion, history suggests it takes strong political leadership — and plenty of money — to win widespread support. Rep. Frank Attkisson, R-Kissimmee, played a key role in this year's tax debates in the Legislature and had planned to start an initiative similar to Rubio's to reduce property taxes and pay for it with a higher sales tax. But the time he and his fellow legislators spent in special sessions to cut the state budget and then come up with a compromise proposal on taxation ate into the time he needed to woo financial backers. "I didn't have time to raise the money," Attkisson said. "If you give me $1.5 million right now, it would still be a yeoman's effort and I'd give it a 50-50 chance." David McKalip, a St. Petersburg neurosurgeon who founded the Cut Property Taxes Now organization last year, said he has been talking with people close to Rubio about combining forces. In two weeks, the physician has gathered 4,000 signatures on his petition to limit ad valorem, or property, taxes to 1.25 percent of a property's taxable value. "The Legislature has ignored the needs of taxpayers," said McKalip, 42, who paid $16,000 in property taxes last year. "People are being taxed out of the state." In recent years, several citizen initiatives have made it to the ballot and passed. They included caps on class sizes in the public schools, allowing slot machines in Broward County, building a bullet train between Orlando and Miami (which was repealed by an amendment put on the ballot by the Legislature), a ban on indoor smoking and protecting pregnant pigs from cruel and inhumane confinement. But those measures passed when only a simple majority vote was required to change the constitution. In November 2006, voters amended the rules to require at least 60 percent approval of any future amendment. But Antolinez believes it can be done. His family has lived in Florida since the 1930s. He has seen friends forced from their homes because of high mortgage payments, rising property tax bills and skyrocketing insurance premiums. "I see too many people getting hurt," he said. "I haven't been involved in politics before. But this is my state. Don't mess with it."

 

 


October 30, 2007

TAXES: Could 'portability' vote backfire?

Be careful what you ask for, because it may cost you your most significant property tax break.

That's what some people are warning about a proposal to make the Save our Homes tax cap portable. SOH limits the annual increases in the assessed value of homestead properties to the lesser of 3 percent or the rate of inflation. Currently, that protection goes away when an owner sells his or her homestead.

One proposal being kicked around in Tallahassee is to allow owners to take the tax shelter with them when the move. For instance, say a homestead is valued at $400,000 but has an assessed value of $300,000. If the owner sold that home and bought another homestead valued at $500,000, he or she would have an assessed value of $400,000 ($500,000 minus the $100,000 value of their current SOH cap). If the owner bought a home worth less than $400,000, the $100,000 sheltered from tax would be pro-rated accordingly.

Over the years, SOH has withstood several legal challenges questioning its constitutionality. But the move to add portability could change that, according to a report by a highly respected law professor who specializes in tax matters.

"Save Our Homes portability proposals clearly raise the most serious constitutional questions," wrote Walter Hellerstein (pictured at left) a University of Georgia law professor in a report commissioned by the Florida Legislature.

The biggest pitfall, he wrote, is that under portability, long-term residents would be treated differently than new residents to the state. "In our view, the right to travel and, in particular, the U.S. Supreme Court precedents invalidating state efforts to deprive newly arrived residents of the same governmental benefits that are available to long-time residents provide the most powerful constitutional basis for challenging the Save Our Homes portability provisions."

To Richard Charles Antolinez, founder of Florida Ballot Initiative, a group dedicated to lowering or doing away with property taxes, portability is nothing more than a Trojan horse designed to do away with SOH.

"Portability ensures that Save Our Homes is removed from law, because it modifies the Save Our Homes law, which makes it a violation of the equal protection act under the Constitution," Antolinez wrote in a FLORIDA TODAY letter to the editor.

 

Text Box: Some recent letters to Editor.

Text Box: Click on links.

Letter: Ballot initiative would give state better future
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
... e 2008 ballot. It will take hard work, money and your participation. Richard Charles Antolinez¸ ¯Port St. Lucie¸ ... It will take hard work, money and your participation. Richard Charles Antolinez ¸ ¯Port St. Lucie¸

Letter: Portability may end Save Our Homes
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
... ve been more suspicious of gifts from their enemies. They are still trying to eliminate Save Our Homes. Now they have found a

way. Richard Charles Antolinez Port St. Lucie ...

Letter to the editor: Major reforms necessary on property taxes, insurance
Thursday, September 20, 2007
... taxes, cap insurance rates, cut and cap taxes and ensure competition at the pump. Freedom isn't free; stupidity is very expensive. Richard Charles Antolinez Port St. Lucie ...

Letter to the editor: Major reforms necessary on property taxes, insurance
Thursday, September 20, 2007
... taxes, cap insurance rates, cut and cap taxes and ensure competition at the pump. Freedom isn't free; stupidity is very expensive. Richard Charles Antolinez Port St. Lucie ...

Letter to the editor: Fed up with government? Check out these petitions
Sunday, September 16, 2007
... e. Please read, print and sign these petitions at FloridaBallotInitiative.com.

 When citizens stand together, who can oppose us? Richard Charles Antolinez Port St. Lucie ...

Letter to the editor: Florida's system of taxation is in need of an overhaul
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
... protection under the law can be withheld from you.

 Print and sign my petitions at the "FloridaBallotInitiative.com". Richard Charles Antolinez Port St. Lucie ...

Letter to the editor: Florida Legislature violating rights under Constitution
Wednesday, September 5, 2007

 

Property-tax amendment is long and difficult to understand
Orlando Sentinel, FL - Jan 23, 2008
Richard Antolinez, chairman of the Florida Ballot Initiative and the author of four proposed constitutional tax changes, was the first to raise the alarm ...

Amendment 1's tax revision wording called confusing
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - Jan 22, 2008
Richard Antolinez, chairman of the Florida Ballot Initiative and the author of four proposed constitutional tax changes, was the first to raise the alarm ...

Property tax referendum confusing Florida voters
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - Jan 18, 2008
Richard Antolinez, chairman of the Florida Ballot Initiative, calls portability a "Trojan horse" that will doom Save Our Homes. "The only way Save Our Homes ...

Florida's property tax referendum won't affect Save Our Homes tax law
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - Jan 17, 2008
Richard Antolinez, chairman of the Florida Ballot Initiative, calls portability a "Trojan horse" that will doom Save Our Homes. "The only way Save Our Homes ...

Confused about property tax amendment? You're not alone
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - Jan 23, 2008
Richard Antolinez, chairman of the Florida Ballot Initiative and the author of four proposed constitutional tax changes, was the first to raise the alarm ...

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

RICHARD CHARLES ANTOLINEZ

Chairman/Founder of the "FLORIDA BALLOT INITIATIVE" committee.

Email: FBI Chairman

WEBSITE: WWW.FLORIDABALLOTINITIATIVE.COM

JOHN O. PARSONS 

Vice Chairman of the "FLORIDA BALLOT INITIATIVE" committee.

Founder of NFRA—Florida Chapter

Email: FBIpacman@comcast.net

EXECUTIVE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

DAVID BIDDULPH

Executive Advisor of the "FLORIDA BALLOT INITIATIVE" committee.

CHAIRMAN—Tax Cap Committee: Retired
Email: Odemocracy@aol.com

WEBSITE: www.perfectvotingsystem.com   

JOHN EARLEY

Executive Advisor of the "FLORIDA BALLOT INITIATIVE" committee.

Director—The Constitution Committee of the United States Inc.     

Email: johnearley22@bellsouth.net