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FLC President Campaigns across I-4 Corridor Highlighting Unfairness of Amendment 1
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Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis warns Amendment 1 will “punish” new homebuyers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2008
Contact: Sharon Berrian
(850) 345-1944
OLDSMAR, Fla. – The Florida League of Cities campaigned against Amendment 1 through the I-4 Corridor today with events in Oldsmar, Winter Springs and Port Orange, warning that Amendment 1 would create an unfair, unequal tax system that would punish many Floridians – especially young families and first-time homebuyers – who would be forced to pay property taxes many times higher than neighbors living in a similar home.
In Oldsmar, Florida League of Cities President Frank C. Ortis, mayor of Pembroke Pines, warned that Amendment 1 would create a an unfair, unequal tax system that would punish many Floridians – especially young families and first-time homebuyers – who would be forced to pay property taxes many times higher than neighbors living in a similar home.
To illustrate this inequality, Ortis showed that Amendment 1 would create vastly different tax bills for different owners of a home in Oldsmar valued at $356,000.
An owner who purchased the home 10 years ago for $150,000 would pay a tax bill of $2,343.24.
A young couple buying their first home would pay a tax bill of $5,001.08.
An owner with Save Our Homes portability whose previous South Florida home tripled in value would pay a tax bill of $1,611.54.
Thus, under Amendment 1, the person living in their neighborhood for 10 years would pay $700 more per year than the person with Save Our Homes portability, and the young couple trying to start a family would pay nearly $3,400 more – more than three times the tax bill of the person with portability. Ortis demonstrated such tax inequalities at events outside homes in each city on his across-the-state swing.
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“Supporters of Amendment 1 argue for portability because they say people are trapped in their homes because of property taxes,” Ortis said. “I say Amendment 1 will lock young people out of owning their own homes. Amendment 1 will put up a barrier between Floridians and the American Dream!”
Ortis said that if Floridians enshrine this tax policy in the state constitution, such unfairness and inequality will only worsen over time. In only 10 years, the possible tax bills for the same Oldsmar home have diverged from $1,600 to $5,000 – a factor of 3. In 10 years time, however, today’s 15-year-olds could well be paying tax bills 7, 8, 9, even 10 times higher than their neighbors in a similar house, as could anyone moving to Florida from another state.
“Proponents of Amendment 1 say it will improve our housing market. What will be the state of the real estate market when our tax system punishes new homebuyers?” Ortis said. “They say Amendment 1 is a tax cut ‘guaranteed by law.’ If it passes, we’ll be a state where young people and new residents are ‘guaranteed by law’ to get the short end of the stick if they ever decide to buy a home.”
Essentially, Ortis said, Amendment 1 is not a tax cut, but a tax shift – because nearly every dollar that someone saves as a result of the amendment will be paid by somebody else.
“This is another example of ‘Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that man behind the tree’ tax policy,” Ortis said. “But what will happen when we’re not only taxing that man behind the tree, we’re making him pay the taxes for himself and 10 of his neighbors?”
In addition to new homebuyers, small-business owners would also be forced to bear a disproportionate share of the tax burden under this system, Ortis said, and that’s why numerous business groups are opposing Amendment 1.
“If you are against a tax system that is unfair, that promotes inequality, that punishes young families and locks the doors of home ownership to the next generation – VOTE NO on Amendment 1,” Ortis said. “But don’t take my word for it, ask our teachers, our firefighters, our public safety professionals and our small-business owners. Amendment 1 is bad policy, and Floridians should demand better.”
Paid political advertisement, paid for by the Florida League of Cities, 301 S. Bronough Street, Suite 300, Tallahassee, FL 32301.
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