The Supreme Court’s decision to kick the tax swap amendment off the
ballot leaves nothing for property owners to do but complain. The next move will be up to state lawmakers.

TRIM notices or truth and millage statements, have been showing up in
mailboxes. Telling property owners what to expect when their property
tax bills arrive later this year. One thing is for certain, the governor’s oft repeated “drop like a rock” is not reality.

In most cases, if property taxes are falling at all, it is more like a pebble.

Charlie Crist was ready to campaign for the tax swap amendment before it was kicked off the ballot for being misleading. At a hurricane briefing, he tried not to react.

“I’m concerned with Hanna and Ike right now. That’s where I go from here.”

But afterward, reporters persisted: ...would he call lawmakers into a
special session to deal with property taxes?

“We’ll get back to you on that.”

A special session is exactly what the Florida Chamber is calling for, according to chamnber spokesman Dan Krassner.

“Well, we would hope that the governor and the legislature would convene as soon as possible to look at solutions.”

Mark Pudlow of the Florida Education isn’t going that far, but he is suggesting something needs to be done for schools.

“We have to figure out a way that we can fairly tax everyone in the
state and also maintain the services we need, like investing in public
education.”

So far there are lots of ideas about what’s wrong with the state’s tax
system, but no concrete ideas for making it better.

Since lawmakers and the Tax and Budget Reform Commission
started tinkering with the tax system last year, two of their three
proposals have been knocked off the ballot because they were not clear.