http://cgi.flatoday.net/tax2007/search.htm
It is a neat little page that tells you what your property taxes will be if the new "tax laws" pass.
But if you really like gossip - it is so easy to type in your neighbor's name or address and find out what their tax bill is. Yes - you could do that through the county page - but this page is neater. Looking up your neighbor's taxes also show you how screwed up the Florida tax structure is.
As an example - my home has a market value of $231,000 - my tax bill in 2006 was $3319. Under the 3 new plans - my tax bill under the 3 proposals would be - $2356 - $1922 - $2866. Of course one is always happy to see their taxes drop. But when I looked up the taxes on my neighbor's properties - I was amazed at how much less they were paying for houses similar or bigger than mine. North neighbor pays $1494 - east neighbor pays $1425 - south neighbor pays $2007 - and down the street friend pays $596 on a new home but the taxes did not change yet. Only northwest neighbor paid more $3474 because he bought his house one year after we bought ours. Somehow - it does not seem fair for some people to pay more taxes than others on similar houses.
There is a new home being built about 4 blocks form my home - on Merritt Street. It is an excellent location -even closer to campus and Lulu's job. It is 3800 square feet and will cost $440,000. My wife and I decided to buy it. We love the neighborhood but wanted a nice new home. So we had a meeting with the 2 realtors and the builder. We were ready to sign the papers - pick out the colors and appliances. Then I called the county to see what the taxes on the new home would be. I fell out of my chair when they said $7500!
When Lulu and I married in 1971 - we built a cedar house from a kit. We lived in that house for 30 years - it was only 1000 square feet - as a family of 4 we lived in our "dream house" - and finally the kids were gone. Now after retiring and moving to Tallahassee - we are considering a 3800 square foot home. Something is wrong with this picture. Here is a picture of my first dream house - and then my last dream house.
All of the proposed new tax laws would have us paying less taxes - in one proposal out taxes would drop 40% to $1922. Being as a former school teacher - with a salary that went from $6000 to $60,000 in 33 years - I wonder what effect the tax cut will have on our public school system. Schools are expensive to operate - and Florida spends around $7300 a year per student. With that figure - we are always fighting it out for the cellar with Mississippi to see who can spend the least in the nation per student.
Compound our school cost problems with the constitutional amendment that will have a hard limit on the number of kids per classroom - and we have a tremendous financial crunch coming.
I think Thomas Jefferson said this - I am not sure but am too lazy to look it up - Democracy will be over the minute the people realize they can vote themselves a dole out of the treasury. I wish there was a politician out there that would tell us the truth. You can't give everyone these big taxes cuts and offer them all the services we have and want. Someone has to pay the piper.
So - instead of buying a new house - I think the Trailing Spouse will just put another coat of paint on the old one.
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