Our View - Aug. 6, 2008

As a county and state, we went to the polls and voted ourselves a tax break, yet the question is: when will the actual break become a reality?

The Florida Legislature offered us a chance at a tax break and we took it, but some entities are now taking that break back.

Why?

Well, unfortunately, while we are asking them to cut back, the law of supply and demand hits governments like the City of Milton and the local school system hard.

Tallahassee keeps budget, but for some reason state officials want to create funny ways to raise revenue.

One of the newest “inventions” is called Amendment 5.

What is Amendment 5?

It’s a proposal by the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to eliminate the state-mandated school property tax and replace it with equivalent state revenues to fund education.

That sounds good, but where is that “equivalent state revenue” going to come from?

Well, they are going to try to do this through a host of actions including the repeal of those sales tax exemptions which are not specifically excluded in statute language; the increase of the sales tax rate by one percentage point; spending reductions; and “other revenue options” created by the Legislature.

The only thing we know the legislature can create is taxes. So how do we actually benefit?

As citizens, we discovered the “tax break” we voted ourselves is almost gone with the wind, and now they want us to think we are being offered another golden calf.

In the end, we fear this is yet another way to lead taxpaying cattle to slaughter.

This is another way to help fund our schools, yet when all is said and done, we’re certain the state will still be short on the money needed to meet school budgetary requirements.

Santa Rosa is one of the best school districts in Florida when it comes to state assessments, yet when it comes to state funding, we are nearly dead last in dollars received.

If our memory serves us correctly, the original plan for the lottery money was for it to help with schools and education.

Alas, when you put a politician near a pot of money, it soon disappears. And when it came to the lottery money, it quickly vanished into a bottomless pit bigger and deeper than any body of water, including that which swallowed ships like the Titanic.

The “bottomless pit” to which we refer to is the general fund—a budgetary catch-all to put any expenditure for which you cannot find a true or real reason.

Why did the lottery money go there? Simple.

The Florida’s Lottery generates a great deal of revenue when it comes to the various games of chance.

In the beginning, you don’t think the citizens will miss a little, but just like the dieter who thinks he can get away with “just one” of those delicious chocolate chip cookies, one turns into two, then three and, before you know it, you have eaten the entire bag.

Let’s look at this in governmental terms.

One million turns to two million and, before you know it, there are several million spent and you don’t realize how quickly it goes.

So, the lottery money is no longer sufficient and we need more.

Just once, it would be nice to see our government get a dollar and actually get their money’s worth out of it before it is gone.

Seeing governmental officials place their hands on their hearts and offer a tax break sounds good. We offer this one piece of advice: any time you see a politician with his hand on his heart, beware. There’s a good chance the other hand is in your wallet.