The Bonita Springs City Council has agreed to keep its tax rate the same as last year. The 2009 tax rate will be 82.73 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s great news for Bonita Springs homeowners, who will likely see a 17% decrease in their property taxes.

When you add in the fact that the Lee County Property Tax Rates are also going to remain unchanged, 2009 is going to bring a welcome relief to area residents stung by recent years rising real estate taxes.

In addition, both the City Council and the County Commissioners reduced spending accordingly in order to make up for the short fall in tax revenues. Fortunately, both groups were able to focus their cuts on areas that will not decrease services or have a major impact on residents in general.

Tags: living, real estate, taxes

According to the 2010 State Business Tax Climate report released this week by the Washington D.C. based Tax Foundation, Florida remains among the top 10 states in the nation when it comes to “business friendly” taxes. Florida ranked 5th in this year’s report and has had the best ranking among Southern states for several years in a row. A spokeswoman for the Tax Foundation stressed that the rankings don’t reflect how much money the taxes raise, but how broad and competitive the structure is compared to other states. Florida’s advantage comes mostly from having a state constitution that prohibits an income tax.

Tags: Florida, growth, taxes

The Lee County Florida commissioners voted earlier this week to leave the maximum county-wide property tax rate unchanged for next year. They could also vote to lower it at their budget hearings in September but cannot legally raise it under any circumstances. The rate for a typical resident of unincorporated Lee County will remain at about $5.34 for every $1,000 in taxable value.

It’s great news for many Lee County homeowners - especially those who don’t live in one of the dozens of special taxing districts. Those folks will still probably see some increase in their property taxes as many of their rates are headed up because of the property values drop (22.7%) this year. It also does not affect residents living in one of the many cities throughout the county. They will have to wait and see what those entities will do with their own tax rates.

Tags: SW Florida, taxes

Imagine the surprise of over a million Florida residents who received their proposed 2008 real estate tax assessments expecting to see a tax decrease (based on the passage of the Amendment I) and finding out their taxable value has actually may have gone up by 3 percent. How is this possible you say, especially considering almost everyone’s market value has dropped in the last two years? Welcome to the world of the state’s “down-means-up recapture rule”.

The rule was adopted way back in 1995 by the state’s Department of Revenue with the full backing of then Governor Lawton Chiles. In fact, they even went to court when a group of county property appraisers challenged the rule prior to its being passed by the Florida Cabinet. Unfortunately, the administrative law judge hearing the case approved the rule calling it “an appropriate way to apply the Save our Homes Amendment when property values go down (try and figure this one out).

Tags: Florida, real estate, taxes

One of the lesser talked about parts of the new housing bill is homeowners who do not itemize on their tax returns will now get the opportunity to get some credit on their 2008 federal tax return for their property taxes. Under the new guidelines, homeowners who take the standard deduction ($10,900 for married couples and $5,450 for singles) will get an additional standard deduction of $500 for single filers and $1,000 for married couples who file jointly.

It is estimated that about 40% of homeowners don’t itemize including many in less expensive homes, those with small outstanding balances owed on their homes and folks age 65 and older. They all will now be able to get an extra new tax break in addition to this year’s larger standard deduction.

Tags: IRS, new laws, taxes

For those of you not yet aware, Amendment 5 will be appearing on the November 4th ballot here in Florida. The amendment will allow voters to decide whether or not they will decrease their real estate taxes (by as much as 25%) by replacing “state required school property taxes with other state revenues.”

Once again, Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson (Father of Save Our Homes), helped the committee that developed the new amendment and they believe its passage will “remove the unfunded mandate of required local effort from the backs of Florida taxpayers.”

Tags: Florida, legislature, taxes

On Monday, the IRS announced it is raising the automobile mileage rate that self employed individuals and business owners can claim on their tax returns. The agency said the standard rate it allows to calculate deductible operating costs for business vehicles will go up to 58.5 cents from the current 50.5 cents and will be available for use for the last six months of 2008.

Citing rising gas prices as having a major impact on individual and business finances, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said “given the increase in prices, the IRS is adjusting the standard mileage rates to better reflect the real cost of operating an automobile. He also said the agency wanted to get the new guidance early out so that businesses could prepare for doing mid-year adjustments beginning July 1st.

Tags: IRS, taxes