BIRD TALK

Dear Bird Talk,

Just read the Bird Talk letter from David Dillon in CSANews Issue 65. He is quite correct in what he says in his letter about spending by municipal government being hogwash. The whole thing in a nutshell is that now there are too many people who are homesteading. He is also right about the two sales tax holidays which are always in the summer.

The same thing goes if you want to appeal your taxes here in Pasco County. They have the hearings in Sept. I wonder if they know that a lot of us snowbirds are not here in Sept…”DUH!”. I have been coming down south for 18 winters. I have seen a lot of changes over the years but, when it comes to the taxes, nothing ever changes. Maybe things will change, but I don’t know about that when it comes to the taxes in the state of Florida. But it will be nice to see our (Canadian) money doing so great; it will at least help pay for the taxes.

Love your magazine. Keep up the good work.

Harold Lamb

Response:
We hear that there may be a ballot initiative in November to change the taxes to 1.35% of actual assessment value and replace the lost revenue with a “sales tax.” Should this happen, it will be a huge benefit for non-homesteaders and will help Florida regain its leadership role in the snowbird community. I am a very unhappy non-homesteader myself. Oh, and if it actually does happen, real estate prices will soar. I would not sell anything just yet. I am actually thinking of buying right now, as many beach prices are down by more than 50% and lots of speculators are in trouble. It’s a buyer’s market on both Florida coasts and everywhere in California; Texas and Arizona were a little saner to begin with, but there are still great deals to be had if you do your homework. I recommend www.trulia.com as a great research website for Florida properties.