By Michael C. Bender, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
October 23, 2007 TALLAHASSEE —

With fewer than 10 days left for the Florida Legislature to approve a tax-cutting constitutional amendment, House lawmakers dug in their heels on Monday and forced a showdown with the Senate over how to reduce property taxes. The House voted, 108-2, for a constitutional amendment that could eat into homesteaders’ Save Our Homes benefit and create a new exemption tied to the median home value in each county. Those changes are considerably different from the plan the Senate approved Wednesday and from the agreement among House Speaker Marco Rubio, Senate President Ken Pruitt and Gov. Charlie Crist. It remained unclear Monday whether the Senate would consider the House changes. “We do not know at this time whether you will need to return to Tallahassee,” Pruitt wrote in a memo to senators Monday.The House will meet again Thursday, Rubio said. The Senate will not return before Thursday, Pruitt said. Crist said he would leave it to lawmakers to negotiate the differences in their plans. “I think the Senate plan is doable,” he said.
“I think some potential modification thereof might be doable. It’s really up to members of the House and Senate.” Both the Senate and House plans include portability, which would allow homesteaders to carry their accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new dwelling.
The plans also give businesses a break on taxes paid on property such as farm equipment or computers.It also changes how to assess the value of waterfront. The Senate stuck to most of the original deal and approved a constitutional amendment that also would double the $25,000 homestead exemption and provide temporary breaks to new homestead owners. The total Senate plan would cut about $9 billion in taxes over four years.
Instead of the doubling the homestead or giving first-time home buyers breaks, the House plan would increase the homestead exemption for some by 40 percent of the median home value in each county.The four-year cut the House offered totaled $11 billion. Lawmakers have until 5 p.m. Oct. 30 to approve a constitutional amendment to be placed on the Jan. 29 presidential primary ballot. Any proposed change would need support from 60 percent of voters to pass. Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, called the House’s proposal a “broad-based, bipartisan plan.” Copyright © 2007, The Palm Beach Post