After months of promising simple changes, state lawmakers today will host a tax-cutting summit where they’ll be confronted by this complex reality of property tax policy: It’s a zero-sum game in which many homeowners have benefited to the disadvantage of Florida newcomers and owners of businesses and second homes. That puts legislators in a bind because any tax change could threaten a powerful voting bloc. So they’re hosting a statewide listening tour of taxpayer gripes, and are considering some ideas once given short shrift. For example:

At the heart of the problem is not just local government needs and spending, but the Save Our Homes amendment, which took effect in 1995. It caps the assessed value of a homestead property at the inflation rate or 3 percent. A report from the state’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research says the amendment has delivered on its promises: it has lowered property taxes paid by long-time residents. According to state economists, homeowners now pay property taxes, on average, on a smaller percentage of their home’s assessed value than when the amendment kicked in in 1995. That year, the measure removed $3.5 billion from the property tax rolls. Today, it has kept a quarter of the state’s $1.6 trillion total taxable property value off the rolls. The biggest beneficiaries: coastal residents of big counties, such as in South Florida. The biggest losers: those without the exemption, such as owners of homestead properties who don’t qualify for a homestead exemption and commercial property. The Florida Chamber of Commerce wants legislators to replace Save Our Homes with a package of ‘’sweeteners’’ that would entice voters to move to a system that caps the shift in property taxes from homes to businesses.

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