The
Florida Property Tax, called Amendment 4, is on the November 6, 2012, state
ballot in Florida as a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment.
Generally speaking, the voters approve amendments that reduce taxes.
This constitutional
amendment may have a profound impact on future property tax revenues of both
municipalities as well as unincorporated Miami-Dade.
What Amend
4 proposes to do: The proposed amendment would prohibit increases in the
assessed value of homestead property if the fair market value of the property
decreases; reduces the limitation on annual assessment increases to
non-homestead property; and provides an additional homestead exemption.
Specifically,
non-homestead or commercial property would have their assessment increases
capped at 3 percent per year. This is the same relief current offered to
present residential property owners under the Save our Homes amendment (SOH). The
property tax rate would also be lowered to 10 percent for rental and 5 percent
for commercial properties.
Non-residential
(homestead) properties would no longer see disproportionally higher assessments
in years where values increase.
This amendment
will prevent a local property taxable value from increasing more than 5 percent
in any year – homestead properties would remain at 3%, commercial property at
5% and 10% for rental property.
Additionally,
the measure would implement an additional homestead exemption for first-time
buyers equal to 50 percent of the median home price in the county. The
additional exemption, however, would be gradually reduced until it expires
within 5 years.
Recent
media sources, see: Tampa
Bay Times, online, Florida's Amendment 4 a boon for first-time home buyers, but
counties cringe, By Mark Puente, Times Staff Writer.
The
proposed measure requires 60 percent voter approval for adoption.
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