Property-tax debate is a diversion
In the June 10 editorial, “Months before property-tax vote, budget talks got dirty in the dark,” is this: “Because in November, voters will be asked to shift a massive chunk of funding authority away from city and county governments to state lawmakers and Tallahassee bureaucrats.” This proposed constitutional amendment is, in my opinion, a misdirection play by DeSantis and the Republicans in Tallahassee, diverting attention away from the high prices that we pay to insure our homes here in Florida.
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Instead of going after the exorbitant rates that the home and auto insurance providers extract from Floridians, DeSantis and the Republican legislators want to give us a “quick fix.” But it isn’t a fix. Taking away the power of local government entities to run their own operations, DeSantis and the Florida Republican legislators are asking us to trust them to do the job better when we know that they can’t, in part because of corruption.
We Florida voters had better vote no on the matter of homestead taxes or we will regret it, commencing almost immediately.
— Richard Sutherland, Winter Haven
A fiscal disaster in the making
The property tax “reform” constitutional amendment passed by less-than-brilliant Tallahassee twits will cause irreparable harm to Florida.
This poorly thought out legislation will surely pass because there are enough self-serving people who only care about themselves.
Let us not forget: Floridians put protections for pregnant pigs in our Constitution.
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Many people who will vote for this fiscal disaster have never bothered to attend a municipal budget meeting or even reviewed a proposed budget.
I am a longtime homesteaded property owner, and my homeowners’ insurance is nearly triple my property taxes.
Not allowing insurance companies to shift profits to out-of-state subsidiaries would save me more money than this disaster. Hopefully, over the next few months, people will learn what services their local governments will need to eliminate because they are non-essential and what it will mean to our quality of life.
But I doubt it.
— Richard Carlson, Deerfield Beach
We must destroy Iran
Let us hope that the U.S. response to Iran’s hostilities will put an end to the Iran regime once and for all. President Donald Trump has shown infinite patience with Iran. Between the many ceasefires, extensions and delays, the handwriting is on the wall. An Iran deal is not in the cards. As we have witnessed, they cannot be trusted. They will shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. The word “peace” does not seem to exist in their vocabulary. In my view, Iran is hellbent on destroying Israel and America. For 47 years they have chanted “death to America” and “death to Israel.” We cannot trust them nor can we change their ways. But we can destroy them and I believe we must, before they destroy us. And by doing so, the world will be a safer place.
— JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater
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