Anna Maria Island | Florida State Amendment 1 Passes the buck

In yesterday’s primary election voting, State Amendment 1 passed by 64.4%. As posted in an earlier report, the ‘tax-reshuffle’ :

• increases the homestead exemption except school district tax
• allows homestead property owners to transfer up to $500,000 of their Save-Our-Homes benefits to their next homestead
• for non-homestead property, provides a $25,000 exemption for tangible personal property (business property)
• limits assessment increases for specified non-homestead real property except for school district tax

Who benefits:

• Florida residents with a homesteaded primary residence (savings = about $200)
• Business owners with taxable assets
• Residents who move homes do not lose all of their capped taxable value.

Who’s left out:

• Second home owners
• Vacation home owners
• Landlords

What isn’t addressed:

• Government spending
• Public school funding
• Method of determining appraised value
• Highest and best use criteria
• Millage tax rate

The bottom line is that property tax was reduced, for some, by about 3%.

What do you think? Do you feel you get value for your tax ‘contribution’.

Related posts:

1. Florida State Amendment 1 Tax ReShuffle? Added to Tuesday’s primary ballot is a proposed change to the way property taxes are assessed. Currently, a rule of thumb is that taxes on real estate are nearly 2% of appraised value. Usually the appraised value is lower than...
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