Florida Real Estate News - 03/12/07
FLORIDA PROPERTY TAXES
An alternative House Republican plan to swap property taxes for sales taxes began to gather steam Friday. The idea is to eliminate the portion of property tax bills that go to school districts and pay for education through a higher sales tax.
When the lottery was introduced into Florida, the legislature proposed that the monies would go towards the public education for both school districts and the state’s higher education institutions. Well….after some time, funds slated for education were diverted to the general fund, because the lottery profits were going to education.
This is beginning to sound familiar - maybe the same outcome?
A group of out of country part-time residents are banning together to call for property tax reform in Florida. Part-time resident Phyllis Turek says she doesn’t expect the same concessions as full-time residents, but believes part-time residents should get some credit for paying taxes year-round and using services for only a few months.
Sounds fair, but does Ms. Turek realize services are not strictly volume related, but there are fixed costs along with the variable costs associated with the part-time residents?
It’s not just Florida: At least a dozen states have legislation in the hopper this year to provide property tax relief, on top of at least eight that acted last year, according to the online news service Stateline.org.
HOUSING OUTLOOK
Many forecasters now predict that the worst may be over when it comes to the housing market, pointing to sales data that shows the national existing home sales market is on the verge of regaining ground.
Hope you read my posts about what the University of Florida survey on Emerging Real Estate Market Conditions had to say as well as what is happening in the greater Naples real estate market.
MORTGAGES
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and many other economists do not expect troubles in the subprime mortgage niche to impact the overall national economy, thanks to a low unemployment rate and income gains. Still, rising subprime foreclosures could affect the housing sector, particularly in Florida and California.
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