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Voters Hungry For Tax Reform Are Offered A Pig In A Poke

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 7, 2008

Voters can't be sure what they'll get if in November they approve the major reform offered by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission.

The proposed amendment would lower property taxes for schools and replace the revenue with unspecified budget cuts or other sources of revenue to be decided later.

Reducing property taxes is a good idea. The single most irritating line on the tax bill is the state's school tax. The millage rate is set quietly by the Legislature, not at local meetings where taxpayers can have their say.

The danger with this amendment is that it doesn't say how to replace the money schools will lose. The amendment mentions that the Legislature could increase the sales tax by no more than one cent, but that extra tax would only replace a portion of the lost property taxes and is only a suggestion, not a requirement.

Avoided The Hard Work

The panel, appointed every 20 years to tackle tax and budget issues too controversial or complex for the Legislature, failed its core mission. It kicked the hard part, how to replace the lost revenue, right back to lawmakers.

Voters are offered a package of unknown contents. We're reminded of the ancient trick by swindlers to put a cat in a bag and sell it to an unsuspecting customer as a young pig.

When you open the bag, the cat jumps out and runs away.

This deal is a risky one for voters. The bag won't be opened until next year's legislative session ends. It may be all that each voter hoped for, or it may be a cat that is let out of the bag.

Several other, simple ideas the tax commission came up with were noncontroversial enough for the Legislature to handle itself, such as requiring no additional property taxes on hurricane-resistant improvements and renewable-energy devices added to homes.

Another minor reform allows lower property taxes for permanent conservation lands as well as for lands temporarily used for conservation. The first part is easy to support but the second half raises the possibility of creating a tax shelter for high-value land being held for development.

Voters are also being asked to allow themselves to approve, county-by-county, a new sales tax to support community colleges. Few counties may want to do that, but there's no reason to deny them the chance.

Another little change would create property tax breaks for waterfront land owned by commercial fishing and marine businesses. That's a good idea, but won't relieve the tax strain on other waterfront commerce, such as small beach motels - one more disappointment.

Spending Taxes On Religion

While the panel skirted many legitimate tax issues, it jumped right into the middle of the controversy over spending tax money on religious organizations.

One of its amendments would prohibit the state from preventing an "entity" from taking part in a public program because of religion, and the second part would allow state money to be spent directly on churches and sects.

Another two-part amendment would require that at least 65 percent of school budgets be spent in the classroom. The second half, hidden deeper in the ballot language than many voters will read, would allow public taxes to be spent on private schools.

The first part is an unneeded meddling in the business of locally elected school boards. The second part deserves to be in an amendment all by itself, so all voters will understand what they're being asked.

The tax commission is supposed to bring clarity to tax issues, not trick voters. However you feel about vouchers, property taxes for schools, and other tough tax issues, you have to be disappointed in how the questions are being presented.

Something is definitely jumping around in the bag, and voters who listen carefully might hear it meow.

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