Will the Florida property tax amendment get the required 60% vote in January?

If you turn to newspapers for an answer, it depends on which news paper you read. If you turn to special interest groups, it depends on which group you listen to or it simply depends on what you hope to get out of it.

As The Ledger so elegantly put it

"What Passes For Florida Tax Reform - So what's wrong with that? Just ask Florida Tax Watch, the private fiscal-watchdog group that has done extensive research on tax-and-budget-reform issues. The plan, which will go to the voters Jan. 29, "gives relief to those who need it least (long-term Save Our Homes property), while giving virtually nothing to those that have seen their taxes rise the most (nonhomestead property). It will perpetuate and exacerbate the current system that shifts tax burden from homestead to nonhomestead property. It will also continue to shift the tax burden to new homeowners."

 

Here is a sampling from across Florida

Business Journal
The property tax amendment on the January ballot should pass easily, if Business Journal readers are any indication.

Miami Herald

OPINION POLL
Poll: Voters not sold on property-tax plan
The Legislature's property-tax proposal faces significant resistance from Florida voters, who must approve it with 60 percent of the vote in January.

Palm Beach Post

Property tax plan's support slim
By MICHAEL C. BENDER

TALLAHASSEE — A majority of Florida voters support the property tax amendment on the Jan. 29 ballot, but not enough to approve the changes, according to a new Palm Beach Post poll.

The News-Press
The constitutional amendment that would provide tax breaks to Florida property owners should have no problem passing next January, if a small group of Lee County taxpayers is any indication.

Let us look at some groups who oppose it:

Florida Professional Firefighters Association
The Florida Education Association
AFL-CIO
Service Employees International Union
state's public-employees union

Then there is the Florida League of Cities, who has decided to fight a $12 billion property tax-relief package that lawmakers placed on the Jan. 29 ballot. Can they even do that? are they not supposed to be representing people who live in small incorporated towns and cities in Florida? is it the wish of the majority of the people of these small towns and cities to oppose the amendment? or have their approval to spend their tax dollars to fight the tax-relief package?

Let us look at the groups that support the package

Florida Association of Realtors
The Florida Chamber of Commerce
Associated Industries of Florida and other business.   

The surprise in all this will be the close to 1-million mobile home owners who will get a slight break and groups like the Florida Manufactured Home Association, the Federation of Manufactured Home Owners of Florida and the Alliance of Park Residents are spreading the word through newsletters and e-mails.

Some observers think this oft-ignored voting bloc could be the key to gaining the 60 percent voter approval for the tax cuts to become law.

Mobile home owners who lease their lots currently pay the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles an annual registration fee, usually between $55 and $400. Then the county property appraiser's office sends them a tangible tax bill for any additions, like a storage shed, carport or porch. If voters approve the amendment in January, mobile home owners would no longer have to pay the taxes for tangible personal property assessed at up to $25,000.