Florida Property Tax Swap Off Ballot for Good After State Supreme Court Ruling

Florida’s tax swap ballot initiative will not appear on the November ballot. The Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling removing it from the ballot because summary materials were confusing.

We commented on tax swaps here:

As we have stated before, tax swaps are not sound tax policy for three specific reasons. First, local control of schools gets shifted to the state level, harming local autonomy. Second, increasing the sales tax is a more problematic source of revenue and makes the state less competitive in relation to rates found in neighboring states. Third, and most importantly, if the swap means a zero net change in revenue, it won’t actually reduce Floridians’ overall tax burden, as they think it will.

Past blog posts on this initiative:

• Florida Tax Swap Removed From Ballot, August 18, 2008
• Florida Governor Endorses Property Tax Swap Amendment, August 6, 2008
• Multiple-Choice Tax Proposal in Florida, July 22, 2008
• Florida Governor Addresses Property Taxes in State of the State Speech, March 6, 2008
• Florida Moves Towards Property Tax Cuts (Again), October 23, 2007
• Florida Property Tax Amendment Removed From Ballot, September 25, 2007
• Key Florida Republican Comes Out Against Property Tax Cut Referendum, September 7, 2007
• Florida Governor Crist Tells Realtors to Get Ready for Housing Boom from Property Tax Cut, August 24, 2007
• Florida Property Tax Reform Will Go Before Voters, June 18, 2007
• Florida Property Tax Reform Debate Continues, April 20, 2007
• Florida Latest State Proposing Property Tax Cuts for Sales Tax Increase Swap, February 21, 2007
• Tax Cut? More Like Tax Swap, February 20, 2007