by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Florida Tax Watch, a non-profit, non-partisan taxpayer research institute and Government watchdog, has a 29-year history of observing, studying and reporting on the activities of all levels of government and legislation. Each research brief published is intended to recommend productivity enhancements and explain the statewide impact of economic and tax-and-spend policies and practices on citizens and business.
The organization’s Executive Director and CEO, Dominic Calabro, addressed the Rotary Club of Jacksonville Monday and much of his focus was on the proposed Amendment 5 to the State Constitution. If it is approved by voters in November the measure will replace the required local effort school property taxes set by the Legislature with a combination of sources that won’t be fully determined until after the ballot, he said.
Florida Tax Watch has gone on record as supporting gradually eliminating the required local effort portion of the property tax, he said then added, “Eliminating it all at once and leaving an $11 billion hole to be filled in yet unspecified ways raises significant concerns,” he said. “Amendment 5 also gives the Legislature several options including increasing the State sales tax, removing some of the current exemptions which would increase the cost of doing business and possibly add a tax on services. I think a better job could have been done in writing this proposal.
“We think it’s a case where the cure is worse than the problem. Amendment 5 is a fiscal Trojan Horse.”
A 12-page report on Amendment 5 released this month by Florida Tax Watch states the organization also has concerns about the effect its approval could have on Florida’s schools and students. It states in part that education funding is held harmless only in the first year after implementation and after that, “K-12 will have to compete with other educational entities, as well as other state priorities, for funding every year. Furthermore the hold harmless provision itself could create serious budget woes for other services such as Health & Human Services, Corrections and the Courts as well as other educational services like higher education and early learning in the first year.”
Calabro also pointed out that if Amendment 5 is approved, it guarantees education funding during only its first year in force and will “put the Legislature in the position of fixing it later and we’ve seen too many promises made and then broken. We feel the uncertainty involved with Amendment 5 makes it a bad idea for Florida.”
A more reasonable tax reform plan is available, Calabro suggested, that being collecting what’s legally owed to Florida but is not being collected, including sales taxes on Internet purchases.
“We believe in the next year the State Legislature will position Florida to collect those taxes,” he said.
Calabro also announced Florida Tax Watch will soon publish its findings related to a study of Jacksonville’s City government. He then previewed the report’s content by saying, “You have a very well-run city,” then added, “The important thing is to build a culture of outstanding public service because that’s what the community expects. Auditors are not as important as having competent, motivated people doing their jobs.”
Another of Florida Tax Watch’s current areas of interest is in pension funds on the State and local levels. Calabro said the $141 billion State pension condition as of May 2007 was 107 percent funded based on assets compared to liabilities, but the same can’t be said for Jacksonville’s City employees’ funds.
“You can’t define the future as you have in the past. The City of Jacksonville must change the way it calculates its pensions. It has to be modernized and competitive but it also has to be based on the way people live,” he said.
After the meeting adjourned, when Calabro was asked why since 1979 more than 70 percent of Florida Tax Watch’s recommendations have been implemented by a series of Governor’s Mansion residents and legislatures, he said, “For 29 years, the role played by Florida Tax Watch has been based on Constitutional concepts, particularly the 1st Amendment and freedom of speech. We have a long history of cutting through the heifer dust.”
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