The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-05-09
BILL
ON AID VALOREM
PROPERTY TAXES
LEGISLATIVE ACTION IS EX-
PECTED THIS WEEK: OBJ
SERVERS EDICT APP
PROVAL OF RESOLUTION


TALLAHASSEE, May 9.-Leg-
lslatlVe action on propose d
amendments to the Florida con-
stitution, which would give the.
voters at the 1910 general cleo
. ton the right to decide by ballot
whether they desire total abolition
of all ad valorem property taxes
state. county and municipal
is expected this week with OBJ,
servers predicting approval of the
joint resolutions by the necessary.
three-fifths majorities of the
House and Senate.
Attention of the legislature, in
fact, has been focused on the
, amendment proposals by the in
PRODUCTION of a general sales tax
, bill, which would raise not only
enough revenue to replace monies
lost through doing away with ad
! Valorem ieVieS but would leave a
surplus of more than $4,000. 900.
The sales tax bill has been so
drawn as to be effective unless
and until the constitutional
amendment is adopted at the 1910
polls.
! Co-introducers of the sales tax
bill are: Stokes and Sudduth of
Bay; Lehman of Seminole; Allen
of SuWannec; Finch Of jackson,
and Bruins of O5ceola,
Explains Mailer
/ In explaining the purposes of
the bill, which was referred to
the House FInance and Taxation
! COMMITTEES, Rep. j. Ed Stokes, of
Panama City, a co-introducer of
the bilb said:
I In ordcr for Florida to de-
velop and prosper TO the fullest
, extent, the tax system. must be
revised to permit and encourage
; development and use of property.
Our present ad Valorcm system
promotes the rape, destruction
and idlcnCSs OF property. In
formulating Il tax system to pro-
mote the best interests of the
public welfare, we must recog-
nize two fundamental facts; first,
property cannot pay taxes, only
! the business transacted on or
with property can produce
money for taxes; secondly, in the
final analysis all taxes are paid
by the ultimate consumer, either
in the form of increased prices or.
decreased Wages-or in the more
vicious form Of depressed eco
! nomic conditions.
Regarding Revenue
: Analysis o1 tne proposed gen
eral sales, use and severance
omnibus bill shows that not only
state government but all coun-
ties, towns and taxing districts
would, IN reality. receive more
revenue from the new taxation
| system than they do under the
outmoded ad Valorem leVies. In
| 1884, local units received from all
sources a total of SD, PIT sos as
compared with S67 ,507,770 antici-
pated from the new plan. Due to
! the homestead exemption amend
ment. the ad valorem property
yield today is much less than it
! was five years ago. So the local
units net revenue increase would
be even larger than the above
/ tabulation shows.
! Taking into account the in
crease in population, which he
believes will result following
abolition of all adj valorem taxes,
Rep. Stokes said he was conf
dent the revenue under the new
plan would reach S75,000,000 a
year or higher.
/ In addition to eliminating fav-
ioTitism and devices used by GER
| tain property owners to evade
payment of ad valorem taxes,
proponents of the new plan pre-
Idiot savings as high as $4,000, 900
annually in collection costs if the
ad valorem system is suppianted
! by modern setup.
| Only the adj vaioTem taxes
would be involved by the pro-
! posed change Existing gasoline
taxes, occupational licenses and
, inspection fees would be left un-
disturbed.
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