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
