Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club Real Estate Taxes

In a nutshell...here is what has happened.

Eleven years ago Florida passed a tax savings for homestead property. That was referred to as "Save Our Homes". What it did was give homeowners a $25,000 exemption on the value of their property (and possibly more in some circumstances). That was not the part that caused trouble. The other part of it is that homesteaded property under "Save Our Homes" could only have a 3% increase in taxes each year.

Now, if you have been living in your home for a long time your taxes are very low. Because many people are paying low taxes and because values have gone up significantly in the last 11 years, if someone buys the home next door to one with the "Save Our Homes" cap, there taxes are very high by comparison.

I guess when they started this plan they did not realize how much property would go up in value and the disparity it could cause.

Now, two people living in similar houses and using the same schools and parks and streets are paying very different amounts in taxes and guess who does not like it...

Remember that in Florida we do not pay state income tax and we do not pay personal property taxes. Our state sales tax is 6% which is not high by comparison to other states. The tax has to come from somewhere.

The problem is that everyone should be paying the same amount. But guess who does not like that plan? The people who have been in "Save Our Homes" for a long time.

The other factor is that landlords get no "Save Our Homes" either. Their property taxes are high and so is all commercial property.

This year the Florida Legislature put together a plan that would hopefully solve this problem. They had an original plan which a judge threw out because he said it was too confusing. Now they have come up with a second plan which doubles the $25,000 homestead exemption and allows "portability" of "Save Our Homes." This new proposal was voted in on January 29, 2008. It also caps the amount that rental and second homes can go up each year at 10%. This means that people who live in Florida and have the benefit of save our homes, can move to a retirement community and take that benefit with them.

At this time I can tell you that a home with no homestead exemption like my rental homes at Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club have taxes of $2284.00. That is a 1445 sq. ft home with a double garage. The millage Rate is 15.36.

Our taxes are lower in Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club because we are a 55+ community. We don't have children in schools and so we pay smaller taxes.

So if you are figuring on the cost of a new home and you are going to live there permanently, you can be pretty sure that your taxes will be around or under $3,000 even if you build or buy a larger home. If it is your permanent residence then you will be homesteaded and your taxes will be capped at a 3% increase per year. You will get the homestead exemption of around $50,000 minus some school taxes.

If this will be a second home or an investment your taxes can only go up 10% per year.

Keep in mind that we have no CDD fees at Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club. This is about an $1800 per year savings over many other communities.