Little more than two weeks before Election Day

With a little more than two weeks before Election Day Floridians are debating on whether to support the tax cut ammenment or to oppose it and plenty of interesting comments can be found in chat rooms and websites on the internet.

One citizen from Orlando had this comment "I believe the home owners should have a reduction in their property taxes. The municipalities are simply trying to scare the taxpayers not to approve the current referendum relative to their reduction of their property taxes. I honestly believe the essential services, such as police, fire and schools, will remain untouched. The municpalities are simply bluffing and trying to cause panic among the property owners."

At a luncheon before hundreds of Central Florida politicians and other members of Orlando's Tiger Bay Club, Gov. Charlie Crist when asked if he thought local governments would have to cut services, as anti-amendment critics have contended, Crist said he did not believe the advertisements about communities losing fire and police services.

"Five or six years ago, before the run-up in real estate prices, we had police officers. We had firefighters. How did we do that?" Crist asked, adding that governments had to prioritize spending, just as families do." the Governor said.

Another citizen had this comment on the internet "The same case against Amendment 1 was made by the opposition to the Save Our Homes amendment back in 1992. Thank God that Save Our Homes passed as many of us long-time Floridians would be out on the street otherwise. Florida's working families must have tax relief and the sky isn't going to fall if Amendment 1 is approved."

Another surfer alluding to the housing crisis said " People pulled money out of the stock market and started 'flipping' houses like they used to daytrade. Builders built more houses, lenders lent money to people with no credit.

Then came the crunch; people couldn't pay their variable rate mortgages, lenders cut back so the speculative market for housing dried up."

Charlie Crist in an email supporting the tax cut ammendment said "This tax cut is fair, simple and guaranteed by law. The time to re-ignite Florida’s economy is now"

Meanwhile Support for Amendment 1 continues to grow and just this week the Construction Executives' Association and the Florida Bankers Association joined several other organizations and associations supporting Amendment 1.
 
Other groups who have declared their support to Amendment 1 include:

Association of Builders and Contractors
Associated Industries of Florida
Construction Executives' Association
Florida Association of Realtors
Florida Bankers Association
Florida Carpenters Regional Council
Florida Chamber
Florida Home Furnishings Association
Florida Homebuilders Association
Florida Manufactured Homes Association
Florida Medical Association

During a conference call with supporters this week, Crist mentioned several upcoming events including early voting, which begins this Monday, and a bus tour.  On Monday the Governor will be in Fort Lauderdale at 10:00am at the park across from the library at 100 South Andrews Blvd for an event to kick off early voting in Florida.