Taxing question: House OKs bill forcing county tax votes only in primary, general elections

Legislation limiting placement of local sales tax referendum to primary or general election ballots and requiring passage with 60 percent support was approved Wednesday by the Florida House.

The same bill by Spring Hill Republican Blaise Ingoglia (HB 139) passed in that chamber a year ago, but died in the Senate. Legislation sponsored by Sarasota Republican Greg Steube this year (SB 278) currently sits in the Appropriations Committee.

The final vote in the House on Wednesday was 93-23.

One of those who voted no was Dania Beach Democrat Steven Geller, who said it would result in another case of the state telling local governments how to behave. He specifically disliked the idea of a referenda item not being held when many local municipalities hold their elections in spring time.

“One of the problems we have with local tax referenda, is that right now currently counties can place that question anywhere on the ballot, ” Ingoglia responded, adding that to a certain degree, many counties have been “abusing that process.”

Citing turnout numbers hovering at 22 percent in some municipal elections, Ingoglia said he believed that “if you’re going to ask people to tax themselves, you should have the maximum participation possible.”

The original bill said counties could only hold tax referenda questions on the date of a general election to maximize the voting potential.

A problem with holding a vote in a primary is, Ingoglia said, depending on the county, participation is often much higher in number in primaries by the dominant political party in that county.

In Steube’s bill, language has been added in committee that would  allow local governments to hold a tax referendum on an off-year election cycle (such as 2017), as long as the tax increase was “revenue neutral.”

“Transparency in local tax increase referendums is critical. We commend Representative Ingoglia for passing HB 139 to strengthen local tax referendum processes to ensure more voter participation in local taxing decisions,” said Skylar Zander, deputy director of Americans for Prosperity Florida. “This is a good transparency measure and will make local tax increases more accountable. We call on the Florida Senate to pass this bill.”