The State of Florida raises most of its revenue from a sales tax. Sales tax, though, is extremely transparent and is difficult to increase, which makes it less favored by the politicians. Instead of working within a budget, our politicians have created more sneaky taxes over the years to avoid the open request for more $$ through sales tax. We've added home property taxes and ad velorem taxes on our vehicles, trailers, motorcycles... that can easily hide other taxes - like a hospital tax in our land property taxes.
Over the summer, we found ourselves in debt and apparently nowhere to cut expenses (government employees got raises, though!). Our wise State government decided it was time for new revenue but knew that Florida citizens would protest a sales tax hike. What did they do instead?
Instead of raising our Florida sales tax by just a penny or so, they increased our ad velorem taxes! It now costs nearly DOUBLE to renew tags on anything from an SUV to a motor-home, from a motorcycle to a hybrid, from a landscaping trailer to a boat. Anyone in Florida who owns a car, truck, trailer, boat, motorcycle or just wants a drivers license, now pays nearly double for the "privilege". Rather than slightly increase EVERYONE'S taxes through purchases, our State chose who would pay more. This is blatant tax punishment on property owners of this state. We could have spread the tax through the entire state and our visitors! It would have been negligible for an individual!
On a related-note, specialty license plate renewals have fallen more than 40% since the new tax was installed. Talk about unintended consequences! Lower revenue for state universities & non-profits because our sneaky politicians tried to pull a fast one.
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