Florida Owners Need "Portability" Tax Relief
We support adopting a new constitutional PORTABILITY amendment allowing homesteaded owners to move their sheltered Save Our Homes (SOH) value from one primary residence to the next one in the same county under a governmental "local option." This concept was supported last November by 77% of Broward voters in the straw ballot question. Here is how it could work: Your current home has a market value of $300,000 and a SOH assessed value of $175,000 -- meaning the difference ($125,000) is the amount sheltered by SOH. If you sell that house and buy a new one for $325,000 (and qualify for homestead), your initial assessment for property taxes would be just $200,000 (the math: $325,000 Market Value minus the $125,000 portable SOH differential). We urge you to contact your State Senator and State Representative to urge them to place a Portability Amendment on the next statewide ballot. If the Legislature places the issue on the 2008 ballot, the earliest likely date it could become law would be sometime in 2009.
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