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Crist Rallies For Tax Relief

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By RICH SHOPES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 17, 2008

TAMPA - The fight over a constitutional amendment promising property tax relief came to Tampa on Wednesday, with Gov. Charlie Crist outside of a South Tampa home urging voters to back the measure while a major union was downtown lobbying against it.

"When the lieutenant governor and I traveled around the state in 2006, every single day we heard from people who wanted their property taxes cut. Well, that day has come," Crist said at a rally outside the home of Evelio and Nancy Prieto.

The couple put their Church Avenue four-bedroom house on the market three months ago and would benefit if Amendment One passes Jan. 29.

The amendment would double the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000, though school taxes would be unchanged. The amendment also would allow those who move, such as the Prietos, to bring their Save Our Homes valuation benefits with them.

The Prietos would save about $3,500 a year in property taxes by transferring that benefit to their new house, said Crist, who has been crisscrossing the state in a bus trying to build support for the amendment. After Tampa, he was heading to Miami.

"That's important. That's real money to real people across Florida," he said of the tax savings. "That creates opportunity, economic freedom and economic opportunity to our people."

Small businesses and those without a homestead exemption would receive some benefits. Businesses would get an exemption of $25,000 for tangible personal property, and property not protected by a homestead exemption would have valuation increases capped at 10 percent a year.

The League of Cities and some labor unions oppose the amendment.

A few hours after Crist's rally in South Tampa, workers from the Florida AFL-CIO labor group were outside a Verizon call center handing out leaflets and urging workers to oppose the amendment.

"Not one person has come up to us and said they're going to vote yes on this," said Josh Anijar, zone coordinator for the Florida AFL-CIO and West Central Florida Federation of Labor.

A spokeswoman for the West Central Florida Federation of Labor said she supports tax relief but opposes the amendment because it would force cities and counties to lay off police and firefighters.

"The average savings would be about $20 a month to the average homeowner," said Cheryl Schroeder, executive director of the West Central Florida Federation of Labor. "I feel we need to reform the tax structure itself to give working families a break."

Schroeder met with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio on Wednesday to assure the mayor of the union's opposition to the amendment. Schroeder said Tampa would lose $20 million in property taxes if the amendment passes, causing possibly hundreds of layoffs of city workers.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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