[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by lunetunelover

This move would kill most local governments, especially the smaller ones. Trust me, you WILL pay some other way. Your trash service, streets and sidewalk maintenance, stormwater, parks, beaches, all public facilities, and sometimes water, sewer, electric services will ALL be impacted.

I would expect local sales taxes to increase, unless the State places a limit on them.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

The lottery money was supposed to enhance education but has evolved into the primary funding source since the state has cut so much out its budget earmarked for education, which is how teacher pay is ranked 48th among other telltale signs. Also the lottery funds pre-K through college, not just high school as many seem to think.

https://feaweb.org/release/nea-repor...ns-worst-paid/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/...ege-gets-boost

Florida has some of the best education in the USA, says U.S. News and World Report, so if we can get quality education w/o over-spending for it like; NY, Mass, NJ, & CT, then why not?

Spending more on education does not equal higher quality education.

Maybe that is why Millions from those states are moving to FLA...for lower taxes, & better educational value.

[lunetunelover]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

I would expect local sales taxes to increase, unless the State places a limit on them.

The State has to approve them...this will make it harder to locals to do that.

[Dave_n_Tenn]

Money does not solve educational issues... see California for reference.

[FordBronco1967]

Property taxes are immoral, because everyone has to live somewhere. It's no different that taxing people for the air they breathe. But I'm not sure eliminating them is necessarily the right answer, unless the details prove to be sound.

Why not cut the property tax rate by a half a percent or a single percent? Or eliminate vehicle property taxes? Or something less significant? I don't think mass change at once is good. Better to do baby steps.

[MattMN]

Originally Posted by lunetunelover

I agree with nearly everything you said...until you got to this point.

Tourists use our roads, parks, beaches, trash services and many of our public facilities.

In my town, it was recently decided to add a parking fee near our beaches to help pay for trash removal. Residents can get a "pass" at City Hall to avoid the charge. It was discovered the worst offenders for litter and trash at the beaches were non-residents.

For sure you are correct. Tourists do indeed cost us all those things. I was meaning that residents should be paying most of the fees to local governments, for the services they receive as residents, and we shouldn't need to reply on tourists to be paying all of our fees.

I would note that in general, there is still income paid by local tourists in the dollars they spend in rental homes, restaurants, businesses, etc. So it's not like they are not currently contributing to the economy, some of which in turn is paid to the local government.

[lunetunelover]

Originally Posted by MattMN

For sure you are correct. Tourists do indeed cost us all those things. I was meaning that residents should be paying most of the fees to local governments, for the services they receive as residents, and we shouldn't need to reply on tourists to be paying all of our fees.

I would note that in general, there is still income paid by local tourists in the dollars they spend in rental homes, restaurants, businesses, etc. So it's not like they are not currently contributing to the economy, some of which in turn is paid to the local government.

Good points!

It is important to note that income/revenue sources are often limited in what they can be used for.

For example, gas taxes cannot be used for parks or trash collection or other improvements. By Florida Statute, gas taxes can only be used for roadway infrastructure. And the amount is "small" so it is generally used for maintenance because that is one of the only sources for maintenance a local agency has.

With tourism dollars, some of that money is (by statute) required to be used to improve some of the public facilities. In my county that includes a minor league baseball park. Funds generated by that facility (and some of the hotel monies) MUST go to improve and maintain that facility.

For those who are curious, I would encourage you to take a look at any local city or county budget. The good ones tell you what monies come from what source and what they can be used for.

In general the largest portion of revenue for a local city or county comes from property taxes. Sales taxes would need to increase nearly 20-30% to recoup that lost revenue.

[logicalconsequence]

Originally Posted by FordBronco1967

Property taxes are immoral, because everyone has to live somewhere. It's no different that taxing people for the air they breathe. But I'm not sure eliminating them is necessarily the right answer, unless the details prove to be sound.

Why not cut the property tax rate by a half a percent or a single percent? Or eliminate vehicle property taxes? Or something less significant? I don't think mass change at once is good. Better to do baby steps.

I think that is why phase 1 is to be to give a $100k credit off property value as first, and $250k for 65+'ers.

[beach43ofus]

Here's a different angle on it:

https://www.thecentersquare.com/flor...2547824.html?a

This link questions the entire premise of property taxes, saying it never allows anyone to actually own their property, & that the tax is based upon some hypothetical future value, not what you paid for it.

It also mentions my thoughts that its means to get 140M visitors to pay their fair share of FLA's infrastructure costs, instead of Florida homeowners shouldering the bulk of it.

[lunetunelover]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

Here's a different angle on it:

https://www.thecentersquare.com/flor...2547824.html?a

This link questions the entire premise of property taxes, saying it never allows anyone to actually own their property, & that the tax is based upon some hypothetical future value, not what you paid for it.

It also mentions my thoughts that its means to get 140M visitors to pay their fair share of FLA's infrastructure costs, instead of Florida homeowners shouldering the bulk of it.

The bolded isn't quite what the article says.

“If you buy a piece of property for $100,000 and the property appraiser says it’s now worth a million, even though you’ve never sold it or put that $900,000 in the bank, you are paying taxes on it annually.”

Property taxes are based on an appraised value which is usually LOWER than what you paid for it. If you disagree with the value assessed by the property appraiser, you can appeal:

https://floridarevenue.com/property/...eDisagree.aspx

Also noted in the article the State cannot assess or impose Property Taxes. It is done strictly by local governments. This is a power move by the state to eliminate the main revenue source of local governments. The proposal takes away local government Home Rule and makes them more beholden to the state for funding.

There are many revenue sources that need to be looked at for options in the future. And I agree that all users should pay their fair share to the locality that is impacted. But this is not the way.