Florida property tax reform is a pipe dream – Screws tightened again on part-time residents! Florida’s Legislature pulls the rug from under real property tax reform, while further off-loading out-of-control expenditures onto part-time resident, out-of-state property owners. Amazingly, Florida’s Legislators placed on the January 29th ballot a constitutional amendment of the following: (1) doubling the […]

A Rant on Florida Property Taxes (October 21, 2007 view) I called it a “soap opera”. One of the Florida legislature members called it a “toga party”. The Florida legislature is once again in special session on property tax tinkering or more correctly, offloading taxes from the already much advantaged homesteaders on to non-homesteaded property […]

Legal Challenge of Florida’s Discriminatory Property Tax System- An Update Up to about a year ago, there was no interest by any law firm to launch a legal challenge to the Save-Our-Homes Amendment In fact I remember Winnie Nelon, one of the early leaders of the tax reform groups, being quoted that her organization has […]

Dear Mr. Harper, Re: Discrimination Against Canadians in Florida We need your help to explore possible Canadian government action to counter the outrageous two-tier discriminatory property tax system in Florida. At the end of this note I have a list of actions the Government of Canada can take to secure equitable treatment for Canadian snowbirds […]

Florida plans to continue plucking its snowbirds! After months of studies and negotiations the agreement tabled last weekend may actually aggravate condition of snowbirds: 1. Out-of-control spending continues! The much discussed expenditures “rollback” to 2001 or 2003 was abandoned to a “hold the line” at 2006-2007 level and perhaps cut 3, 5, 7 or 9% […]

The Property Tax Crisis in Paradise – Florida Welcomes(?) Snowbirds When I purchased a condo in Florida in 2000, one of my neighbors told me that I just bought a piece of paradise. And sure enough, since becoming a Snowbird after my retirement I’ve been enjoying the escape from the Canadian winters. What I did […]

Treatment of Canadians Violates NAFTA? In my Ups and Downs since Black Tuesday an interesting article by Peter Brieger in the Financial Post “The Other Chapter 11” where reference is made to NAFTA Chapter 11 suggested that Canadians’ personal part-time use property (investment) may be entitled to compensation from the U.S. government to recover the […]

Florida real estate- Opposite perspectives…and some Facts There were a couple diametrically opposite views on Florida real estate in the past couple of weeks. But first let’s look at the facts via data from the latest S&P Case-Schiller numbers on Miami real estate prices. The following graph, covering the period of February 1987 to March […]