Mayors to Citizens: Vote “NO” on Flawed Tax Scheme
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Measure would hurt young families and community schools while actually making tax system WORSE!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
CONTACT: Sharon Berrian
(850) 222-9684
TALLAHASSEE – Today, the Florida League of Mayors joined an ever-increasing number of groups who oppose Amendment 1, the January 29th tax plan that will be decided by Florida voters. Stephen B. Feren, president of the Florida League of Mayors and mayor of Sunrise, denounced the Legislature’s property tax plan today as an “unfair tax debacle that would hurt young families and schools and small community businesses.”
“The amendment makes an already broken tax system worse,” says Feren. “There is no way we can support a tax plan that punishes families and their children who live and work in our communities.”
Feren sites several harmful trade offs that would be faced if the amendment passes: a broken system where neighbors pay higher taxes than neighbors; an unfair tax penalty that punishes young families trying to buy their first home and billions in cuts to an already-struggling public school system.
According to an independent analysis by Florida TaxWatch, the proposed amendment “gives relief to those who need it the least, while giving virtually nothing to those that have seen their taxes rise the most.” TaxWatch also noted that the plan will “perpetuate and exacerbate the current system that shifts tax burden from homestead to non-homestead property” – which will punish small business owners and first-time homebuyers.
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Other groups oppose the amendment as well. Recently a coalition of labor, teacher and social-service groups formed a committee called “Florida Is Our Home” to campaign to defeat the proposed amendment. The membership of the Florida League of Cities voted in November to oppose the measure.
“Why would anyone vote for a scheme that would give brand new tax benefits and tax caps to landlords and owners of vacation homes, condos and beach-front villas – even if they don’t live in Florida,” said Feren. Feren also stressed that the average Florida family is expected to receive only $240 yearly if the proposal passes or about 67 cents a day – “roughly the price of a can of soda.”
The Florida League of Mayors also emphasize that the fiscal impact of the measure is unknown. “It is impossible to guess who will take advantage of the plan’s new portability feature,” said Feren. “This means that some citizens may pay lower property taxes than their neighbors who have lived in their houses for 20 years.”
“How can we support this bad tax scheme?" Feren said. “Citizens should VOTE NO on January 29.”
Paid Political Advertisement sponsored and paid for in-kind by the Florida League of Cities, 301 South Bronough Street, Suite 300, Tallahassee, FL 32301.
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