new group to take action for tax change

Like the Boston tea Party, there are a few groups in FL that are taking action, the "citizeens for property tax reform out of miami seems organized, and ready to actually succeed in the mission to get something to a vote. I encourage you to spread the word about this petition and help get signatures to get this passed.

from th sarasota herald June 20, 2007
their web site where you can download a petition.
www.propertytaxreformnow.com
Citizen tax plan gains momentum
Broker rallies diverse groups around measure expanding scope of "Save Our Homes"

See the full article:
http://forums.heraldtribune.com/groupee/forums?a=dl&f=3941081465&s=3341001365&x_id=706200659&x_subject=Citizen+tax+plan+gains+momentum&x_link=http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070620/BUSINESS/706200659
By MICHAEL POLLICK



michael.pollick@heraldtribune.com

There is a feverish race going on to offer alternatives to the Florida Legislature's "Super Exemption" constitutional amendment, which is already plugged into the Jan. 29 ballot.

At the head of the pack is Cuban mortgage broker Bernie Navarro.

The Miami man's group, Citizens for Property Tax Reform, has gotten top legal talent to draft a workable constitutional amendment that they they call the "30-40-50 Plan." The group is also raising money, gathering signatures and scrambling to find volunteer managers for each Florida county.

Navarro and his chief supporters plan to meet soon with another citizens action group with deep west coast roots, the Florida Taxpayers Alliance.

"We need to unite under one cause," Navarro said Tuesday. "If we really want to effect change we need to get behind something that is researched and has legs to it."

Unlike the Legislature, which needed only slightly more than 100 votes to put its tax reform onto the ballot, those challenging that proposal need 61,000 signatures just to get their amendment reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court.

Then the groups need another 550,000 signatures to get on the ballot, for a total of 611,000, a figure representing 10 percent of the number of people who voted in the last election.

They have just six months to get it done.

30-40-50? What's that?

Across the top of the home page for 30-40-50 is a graphic representation of the Boston Tea Party, one of the flash points for the Revolutionary War.

Likewise, 30-40-50 definitely qualifies for the adjective "revolutionary."

It would force a slashing of city and county budgets throughout the state and require extensive retooling of local government. The amendment would not attempt to dictate spending -- just tax revenues. School revenues would be exempt.

"Since we are bound by having a single issue in a constitutional amendment, the language is very specific," Navarro said. "We can't talk about expenditures. We might get thrown out."

The amendment would leave Save Our Homes unscathed and essentially serve to expand its scope.

The Legislature, in the fast-paced special session that ended Thursday, passed a reform bill providing homesteaders with a new choice in addition to Save Our Homes, which limits the growth in a homesteaders taxable value. The new super exemption can be worth up to $195,000 on a $500,000 home. But it does not apply to businesses or to non-homesteaded properties, the ones carrying the heaviest property tax burdens.

Legislators' other proposal is already law, one requiring governments to roll back their property tax collections by amounts averaging 7 percent. It provides modest relief to everybody who pays property tax, but not enough to suit the tax activists.