Florida's "Save Our Homes"

[oldnassau]

Some observations on the "Florida Save Our Homes" portion of the "Tax" portion of TR "Best Florida Places to Retire" article posted today. http://www.topretirements.com/state/florida.html
1. The 3% Homestead cap is not merely a law: it's an amendment to the Florida Constitution. Much. much harder to change or modify ("Amendments involving creation of "new State taxes or fees" require a two-thirds approval of the voters"). Important given the state's search for new sources of income.
2. Besides the resident's cap, the FSOH amendment has even more goodies for the homeowner - go to http://www.pbcgov.com/papa/saveourhomes.htm and read about portability and second-home caps.
3. Now here's a thought - for any state that has a cap on Increases. In today's real estate market, values are plummeting. In Florida, the sky (or the bowels of the earth) is the limit. Let's say the assessed value of your Florida house drops from 450k to 250k. There's no limit on DEcreases. Does that mean that the county can't raise that 250k more than 3% yearly? At the same time some governments are trying to find $$, not only would their real estate tax base have shrunk, but that base couldn't come back - even if the market does - for years. I guess the millage rate would have to be raised.

[classof70]

I wish my state, CT, had something like this. It is a tremendous benefit to older people, mostly because it gives them the security of knowing they can live in their home for the rest of their lives with predictable taxes. Around here the reassessment process is so screwy that it had not been unusual to see a home's assessed value increase 50% - which can translate into a tax increase of almost that amount. We see people having to sell their homes or living in poverty just to pay the taxes. Of course, as Old Nassau points out, what will happen in this down real estate market?Who knows.