WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2007

CHRONICLES OF A SECOND EXILE FOR FLORIDA IMMIGRANTS

= WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2007

March 25, 2007. Cities and counties that had embarked on multi-billion dollar spendi= ng sprees fueled by seven years of property tax collection that had grown disproportionately compared to inflation have apparently escaped any kind of corrective measures or efforts to control them.

Examp= les are Miami-Dade County with a 178% increase in pro= perty tax revenues since the year 2000, 123% for Fort Lauderdale and 82% for Broward County.

Money= has been disbursed for parks, landscaping and salaries. In Miami-Dade alone, the counties = 36,000 employees received 29% salary increases between 2000-20006 even though the inflation rate rose only 18%. Pension and salaries would cost years to come. In the City of Miami alone this represents 80% of the budget.

The t= ax disparities became clear when residents found that if they wanted to move t= hey would lose their tax savings and face higher tax bills. They became trapped in their own h= omes. Miami-Dade County has been besieged by a high poverty rate, lack of health insurance and unexpected expenses such as $1 billion more for MIA renovations and 2 &frac= 12; times more to build a carnival center for the performing arts.

The e= ven slightest hint of any kind of tax cut prompted Mayor Alvarez to issue statements warning in the upcoming cuts of everything from parks to healthc= are, law enforcement, firefighters and everything else you could think of leaving out. The obvious was a continuance of the status quo which would exempt all= of the Dade = County residents of all of these f= ears since they would actually have to move elsewhere unless something was done about taxation.

The disagreements over how much to cut ranges from $15 billion proposed by the = Senate, $33.5 billion by the governor to $85 billion by the House.

June 13, 2007= The repeated pledges by Governor Crist that taxes would drop like a rock was instead transformed into a pebb= le as stated by Senator= James King of Jacksonville who was the power behind the throne and non-resolution of the malpractice crisis. The first phase of th= e plan which called for an average of 7% savings did not come close to any kind of much needed relief in order to abort the crisis.

The s= econd phase, which called for even more tax reduction, came enshrouded with the f= ear of taking more money away from schools.&nb= sp; No mention was made from Tallahassee regarding the diversion of funds from the lottery which is supposed to be u= sed for reimbursement of schools.

We ha= ve not seen any approach to identify and point towards controlling overspending and corrupt expenditures. The pos= tulate has been not what can be done to prevent these unscrupulous expenditures of money but rather instead to continue creating as a statement of fact that w= hat really needs to be done is the continuance of overspending without any real auditing of the supposed negative effects that would ensue.

In or= der to support even more theses unfounded, unwarranted warnings, polls are used to assert even more that the cuts in services would be a reality and that the majority of the population (sampling carefully chosen) is in agreement with their fallacious fears and conclusions.

June 15, 2007= . With great fanfare, the news media announced the biggest property tax cut in state history (there has been only one tax cut –which is this = one -constituting insult on top of injury). At = this point other solutions to further reinforce the unproven fact that basic services would have to be cut began to include taxable gambling and raising sales tax.

For t= he first time the state taxation and budget reform commission, which meets every 20 years, surfaced with a threat of an unknown amendment of its own when they = got together this summer. At this= point we have been given what we already had which was the 3% cap and an alternat= ive which was to refuse it and be defenseless regarding future changes that cou= ld affect us. People were furious. The plans consisted = for a petition drive on November 2008. I guess it meant that by that time there would be nobody left to fight back in their local counties.

The a= greement came in following two hours of meetings throughout three consecutive days behind doors which included Jean Cane, a representative from Orlando and Ray Sampson, the future speaker of the house, another republican, in conjunction with Ken Pruitt. The rest of the legislators were informed by this oligarchy of the will of big money.

June 25, 2007= . Not all cities will be cutting taxes. Over a dozen of South Florida cities were exempt of any taxation cuts. These included Miami since only = a few years ago it was removed from a state of financial crisis and Dania Beach because of a meager increase of taxation of only 5.4% since 2001. The reasoning being tax bill exemp= tion cuts were that any city that had been in a state of financial emergency bet= ween July 2001 and now

August 2, 2007. Lawmakers will have to cut the states $71 billion+ budget at least $1 billion during a 3-week special session starting September 18, 2007.

Flori= dians are spending less on big-ticket items such as cars, furniture and appliances stemming from the ailing slump in the real estate market triggered by the outrageous and unsustainable property tax increases.

The combination of inordinate increases in insurance costs in conjunction with = the increase in property taxes is obviously evident.

August 6, 2007. A circuit judge from Ta= llahassee dismissed a law suit filed by Alabama residents who own second homes in Florida. The Alabama residents wanted to scrap the = Save Our Homes Tax Cap stating that it gives Homestead Property owners tax breaks that are unconstitutional. The Judge felt that the law was constitutional since it fosters primary home ownership and does not violate the US protection and commerce clauses. This obviously const= itutes a veiled attack upon the Save Our Home tax law.

Once = the Save Our Homes Tax Cap is given up, there is no cap on taxes and the state will continue to increase the bills. This will favor the plan that will insure the departure of the great= er majority of the middle class income citizens that otherwise would be able to hold out.

CONCLUSION=

We co= ntinue to hear protest over protest, analysis on top of analysis, rage on top of f= ear and within this desirable confusion from big interest, big money, the elite –whichever you want to call it – no solutions in sight, a reces= sion visualized in the future with serious financial difficulties for the entire state which appears to be suffering from a $2 billion less income secondary= to the real estate crisis. =

Sever= al things are for sure: 1. Prope= rty taxation is totally out of control and unaffordable. 2. The reforms proposed and implemented by the legislation are inadequa= te, do not solve and have not solved or given relief to any of its residents. 3. A citizen-oriented proposal of a law that would cover (a) A reasonable reduction that is affordable without unleashing a crisis (b)= A solution that would encompass not only Homestead residents but ren= tals and small commercial property owners (the middle class) (c) Tailored in suc= h a way that it would take into account the different economies of the Florida counties involved and (d) A r= adical modification of the appeal process the places the citizen-owners in the han= ds of their enemies who are the ones that become the appellate court as well as the final say.

By pr= oviding these changes, we are not only continuing to protest but also offering a solution that is mandatorily needed if we are to abort the property tax sto= rm with its secondary effects already well on there way.