House Speaker contends a 1.35 percent property tax cap is good for taxpayers and the state's economy

BROOKSVILLE - House Speaker Marco Rubio came to town Friday with a Christmas wish of sorts.
The Republican from West Miami stood in the hall of the brand-new VFW Post 10209 and implored an audience of more than 100 do more than just sign a petition to get a property tax amendment on the November ballot.
They should also take advantage of holiday get-togethers to secure signatures from friends and family members.
"Don't leave those gatherings without ensuring every registered voter signs that petition," Rubio said as Rep. Rob Schenck, a Spring Hill Republican, sat nearby. "You have the ability to do what politicians, including us, failed to do."
Rubio came to Brooksville at the invitation of the Hernando County Taxpayers Alliance to drum up support for the amendment to the state Constitution that would cap property taxes at 1.35 percent of taxable value.
Rubio recalled "the sad day" after the end of the special session on property taxes earlier this year when a disappointed House came to grips with a tax reform plan that didn't go nearly as far as Rubio, Schenck and other members had hoped.
The session did result in the placement on the Jan. 29 ballot of a constitutional amendment that would increase the homestead exemption and allow homeowners to take their Save Our Homes exemption when they move. Rubio urged the crowd to vote for that amendment.
But the 1.35 percent cap, he said, would also provide relief to businesses, landlords and part-time residents.
That, in turn, would help reverse what Rubio called "a cost-of living crisis" in Florida caused mainly by skyrocketing taxes and insurance rates.
"The people don't have money to spend, and the money they do have they won't spend because they're afraid of the future," he said.
That fear has contributed to a projected $2 billion loss in revenue next year and a lagging economy, he said.
Rubio has found local allies in Brooksville bookkeeper Linda Hayward, who founded the Hernando County Taxpayers Alliance, and Spring Hill businessman Blaise Ingoglia, organizer of the Government Gone Wild seminars on government waste.
Before the meeting, Rubio recorded an introduction to Ingoglia's nine-minute video summary of the 1.35 percent cap proposal that has been posted on the YouTube Web site.
Before Rubio spoke, Ingoglia gave that same presentation, standing in front of a screen that flashed examples of how the plan would save homesteaded and non-homesteaded property owners alike.
He compared the 1.35 percent effort to California's Proposition 13. The measure, passed in 1978 by two-thirds of the state's voters, capped property taxes at 1 percent.
"It's nice and simple and most importantly it stops government from spending at the pace they've spent in past six years," Ingoglia said.
Ingoglia acknowledged the opposition to tax cap amendments, which include lobbyists for local government who contend tax caps would cripple government and decimate services.
He argued that the consequence of not stimulating the economy with tax relief would be far worse.
"We love our civil servants," Ingoglia said. But by opposing the measure, Ingoglia said, "they may be shooting themselves in the foot" and "may be out of jobs."
Supporters of the 1.35 percent cap need 611,000 to get the amendment onto the ballot. They have a little more than 20,000.
Ingoglia invoked another prominent piece of history from 1978 to rally residents around the effort to secure the signatures.
That year, the struggling New York Yankees went on an improbable string of victories late in the season and, with the help of a mammoth home run by Bucky Dent, defeated the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs.
"You could feel this was the team that was going to win the World Series," Ingoglia said.
Hernando residents should build on the energy gained by Hayward's effort to collect 111,000 signatures to lobby the county commission to lower taxes; the turnout at the recent budget hearings and Government Gone Wild seminars; and now Rubio's tour of the state.
"What we're doing is building on that momentum," Ingoglia said.
After the meeting, Rubio said he was excited to see such a large turnout and was impressed by the accessibility of Ingoglia's presentation.
"It really laid it out," Rubio said. "I might have to take him on the road."
Rubio, whose red, puffy eyes told the story of several 16-hour days stumping for the amendment in Miami, Panama City, Sarasota and St. Petersburg, said he looked forward to heading back to Miami to spend Christmas with his wife and four children.
"I think tomorrow is as late as people want to hear from politicians before they want us to leave them alone for the holidays," he said.
Spring Hill real estate agent Bill Lampert had harsh words for the Senate. Lampert, who said he has traveled to Tallahassee four times in the last year to lobby for tax reform, said senators failed Florida residents by blocking the House's more aggressive tax reform.
"Rubio and the House have the people's ear," Lampert said. "Who died and made the Senate God?"
Neil and Darlene Mann of Spring Hill said they were encouraged by the amendment.
"It doesn't stop the bleeding," Neil Mann said, "but it at least puts a plug in it." His wife called it "a good start."
As for Rubio's suggestion to mix a little politics in with the holiday cheer by bringing the petition to parties, Neil Mann said, "We're going to make copies."