Another Lawsuit Seeks to Block Vote On Florida's New Tax Relief Amendment
Posted Dec 17, 2007 @ 3:37 pm, Viewed by 922 Visitors, Read 929 Times.As we predicted, lawyers representing a group of Florida homeowners filed a lawsuit against Palm Beach County officials challenging both existing and proposed state property tax laws. Even though they have been blocked before by the lower courts, attorney's from Alabama and Florida are at it again, alleging Florida's real estate tax laws including Save Our Homes and the proposed "portability" portion of the New Tax Relief Amendment discriminate against recent homeowners.
The new lawsuit is seeking class action status and argues that these tax benefits are “tilted unfairly” to the financial gain of long-term property owners “to the adverse economic disadvantage” of those who have recently purchased a home in Florida. The 37-page complaint specifically includes a challenge to the Legislature’s proposed tax reform package by contending that the "portability provision" will exacerbate inequities in the real estate tax structure.
The question now is how quickly the courts will be in hearing the case and whether or not a judge will agree with the defendant's arguments. If they are successful in blocking it again, you can be sure that any tax relief amendment vote on January 29th, 2008 will be tossed right out the window.
Rate this Post!
Share this Post
Print
Social Bookmarking3 Responses to “Another Lawsuit Seeks to Block Vote On Florida's New Tax Relief Amendment”
Joe Florio
If it's true that the amendment is slanted toward the people who have owned their homes the longest in Florida, and if Governor Crist and the law makers who crafted the amendment want to be generous to the existing homeowners, and the elderly who have lived in their homes, paid their taxes for many years, who's to say these law crafters/makers are wrong? When one does his/her due diligence for a long time, I don't see anything wrong here, even if it isn't perfect, it does the job for now. Especially when you consider it wasn't fair for someone to wind up paying more taxes on a smaller home when they get to old and tired to take care of the home they raised their kids in and lived in for most of their lives. We all want equality in benefits, taxing, and other things in life, but we are all human, we all make mistakes and hopefully later correct most of them. I sincerely hope this is one of those times. Joe Florio
JSharp
When homes were valued at $75K, $150K a $25K exemption was well within reason and provided some relief. With homes being valued a $250K and much more, I feel the proposed additional 25 thousand dollar exemption is not enough. The amount should be more compareable to the value of the home. Most homes have gone up 3 times their value of the 1990's. The exemption should be at least 75 thousand dollars to bring the home within a reasonable tax base. ie: $350K home would be taxed on $275K. still taxes would be high, but not outragous.
REW Blogs User Stats
Currently Online Users:
0
Total Users:
1,762
Entries:
5,215
Unique Views:
2,618,947
Total Views:
2,718,055
Total Comments:
5,279
Gulf Coast Associates is a private real estate firm specializing in SW Florida Real Estate. Benjamin Dona is the Broker-Owner. He and his wife Terry, an underwriter with 20 years experience, also own a federally-regulated mortgage banking firm, Metro Mortgage Company. Read More
View My Listings
Contact Me
RSS Feed- This User's Stats
-
Blog Entries: 129Average Blog Rating: 0Unique Views: 151,745Total Views: 155,790Comments Posted: 26Comments Received: 60
- Friends
-
Top Rated
REW Blogs RSS Feed
If the law makers in that county are truly tilting the tax code like that they should be ashamed of themselves and if the Palm Beach County tax law were reversed by this group, I think the lawmakers should be forced to personally pay some of the legal expense as writing laws that disfavor a group of home owners based on length of time they have owned their home should be strictly illegal and considered discrimination.