Florida “tax swap” ballot amendment struck down
Tallahassee’s CBS4.com reports that a Florida circuit court judge has ruled than an amendment proposal that would swap property tax cuts for increases in other taxes should be taken off the November ballot. Wednesday, Judge John Cooper questioned lawyers who support Amendment 5, which would eliminate more than $8 billion in yearly property taxes used to fund schools. Under terms of the proposal, a homeowner's property taxes would be cut by about 25 percent. To make up for the loss of income to the state, lawmakers would have to find other sources of revenue; a combination of higher taxes and spending cuts. Judge Cooper ruled that Amendment 5 should be taken off the ballot because its summary is misleading. Both sides had vowed to appeal the judge's ruling if it was not favorable to their cause.
Source: CBS4.com, 8/14/08, By staff
[Editor’s Note: The opinion is below, and background on the suit is provided in the St. Petersburg Times articles. The Times reported yesterday that in the court hearing Judge Cooper had expressed skepticism about a provision in the ballot summary “that states that the lost funding for schools would be replaced with an ‘equivalent hold harmless amount.’” The judge ultimately found this summary language unacceptably misleading because it fails to disclose that the actual constitutional amendment only would require the legislature to hold schools harmless for one fiscal year. The same judge on August 4 had dismissed a similar suit seeking to remove from the November ballot two proposed amendments that would allow private school vouchers and impose a requirement that school districts spend 65% of revenues “in the classroom.” Plaintiffs had argued, in this case unsuccessfully, that one of those ballot questions also was misleading to voters. Information on that decision is at the next link. In January Florida voters had approved another property tax measure, Amendment 1, described at the last link.]
Slough v. Florida, No. 08-2164 (Fla. Cir. Ct. Aug. 14, 2008)
St. Petersburg Times, 8/13/08, By Alex Leary
St. Petersburg Times, 8/7/08, By Alex Leary
NSBA School Law pages on Ford v. Browning
NSBA School Law pages on Amendment 1