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Property Tax Relief Comes As No Relief To Readers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

Choked Snow Goose
I am a snowbird for six months of the year in Florida and love it and the people - but no more. I pay three times the taxes of homesteaders. I can no longer afford it. Place after place is for sale, and it's little wonder.

But who will pay when we go? Your taxes have choked the life out of your golden goose.

JOHN GAMMAGE

Lake Placid

Relocation Time

Eighteen months ago, my family and I moved about three miles down the road in the same county, increased our home size by 400 square feet and had our property taxes go from $1,300 to almost $5,000 per year.

The proposed $240 savings is not only an insult, but also the final straw in a decision to relocate my family out of Florida.

I am fortunate enough to telecommute and therefore all I require is a high-speed Internet connection. My middle-class family of four will now join the hundreds of thousands of other families that no longer view Florida as an ideal location to raise our families and invest our middle-class incomes.

I do feel sorry for those families that can't afford to leave, and I wonder how the lawmakers will balance their spending when the only people left in Florida are the very affluent and the very needy.

Our elected officials had their chance; now it's time for the people to speak - with their departing incomes.

WILLIAM S. HARDING

Tampa

Won't Settle For This

I had hoped that Gov. Crist was a man of his word, not just another politician. I was wrong. As the Senate declined to help the people who need them the most, Crist started the "well, we are saving the state billions" speak.

I moved from my 2,200 square foot house a year and a half ago to buy a house that is handicap-accessible. My taxes went up $5,000. There are several houses in my subdivision that are empty because the people just wanted a home to fit their family as their family grew, and they ran out of space. Bad loan officers and a Senate that wants to soak the middle-class so we can waste money on bogus projects get a share of the blame.

Crist better look around because there are a lot of empty homes, and they are not going to be filled with this plan he forced on the House.

We need to get to the ballot box and let the Senate and the governor know we are putting them on notice that we want the House plan, and if we can't get it, then we will not re-elect them. "The will of the people": It seems the Senate and our governor have forgotten about that. We were offered bread; we won't settle for this crumb. The House is not off the hook; they should have told the Senate: "NO!"

KEVIN SMITH

Valrico

Meager Efforts

Property owners should be rightfully enraged at the pitiful attempt made by the Florida Legislature to lower property taxes during this special session. When one considers the time and money spent to reach a compromise that did so little to alleviate the tax burden of the average homeowner, how can these elected lawmakers come home to face their constituents and give any plausible explanation to their meager and barren efforts?

EARL A. MYERS, JR.

Tampa

Say No To Plan

The so-called tax relief plan is relief to what? It is nothing more than a compromise between the House and the Senate. It does no good for us as property owners at all; an average savings of $250 is a slap in the face.

Any tax relief plan is useless unless it is indexed to inflation. The current proposal will be all for nothing in five years because of inflation. A good tax plan should be rolled back seven years, homestead exemption doubled and the plan indexed with inflation.

Write your elected officials and let them know this plan is a bad plan. Remind them that we elected them to office and can just as easily vote them out. Say no to the proposed property tax relief.

KEN REILLY

Plant City

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