A Realtor friend of mine recently lamented that our elected officials need to act soon to substantially lower property taxes. Otherwise, those of us who own homes, rental properties or businesses here will find ourselves on what he called… a sinking ship. He went on to give his opinion that our local city and county governments have loaded us down with so much real estate “tax cargo” that unless something is done, many more people will be forced to abandon this beautiful place called South Florida.

A local restaurant manager shared the same concern, with a slight twist, saying that people seem to be eating out less as the property tax burden has taken more of their money. It is a bit of a Catch 22 as our city and county employees who live locally also have to pay the same tax increases. Therefore, our local governments may have to consider outsourcing more to increase their overall efficiency, as many private companies have been doing.

The legislature keeps coming up with variations of “tax reductions.” However, it seems to have gotten very complicated as they apparently are trying to satisfy too many special interests. So what do we do?

I recently asked for a show of hands from a group of about 40 local citizens who were in attendance at our local Kiwanis Club meeting. I asked how many of them would support raising our sales taxes a cent or two, if ad valorem taxes were reduced proportionally and locked into place permanently? Every hand in the audience went up!

If you agree, cut this out and mail or fax it to your representative whose addresses are listed in the shaded box.

David Eller, Publisher

Contact State Legislators with your opinion about property taxes, NOW!

House of Representatives

• Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, District 91, Phone: 850-488-0635, bogdanoff.ellyn@myfloridahouse.com

• Rep. Adam Hasner, District 87, Phone: 850-488-2234.

• Rep. Jack Seiler, District 92, Phone: 850-488-0880.

Senate

• Sen. Jeffrey H. “Jeff” Atwater, District 25, Phone: 850-487-5100, atwater.jeff.web@flsenate.gov.

• Sen. Ted Deutch, District 30, Phone: 850-487-5091, deutch.ted.web@flsenate.gov.

• Sen. M. Mandy Dawson, District 29, Phone: 850-487-5112, dawson.mandy.web@flsenate.gov.