Taxes

Property taxes in Florida are skyrocketing.

• Duval county has seen a 57% increase in tax receipts since 2020.
• Orange county also saw a 57% increase in tax receipts since 2020.
• Hillsborough county’s budget has grown 70% since 2019.
• Gainesville property owners pay 85% more in property taxes than in 2020.

The population of the state of Florida has increased the most of any US state, but the increase in population was still only 8.2% since 2020. Where is all of the money going?

Taxpayers are being fleeced. Ripped off to pay for DEI, illegal immigrants, and for government employees to groom your children to turn them into twinks and trannies. Enough is enough.

This article has hit my feed several times recently, and the author is either deliberately being deceptive, or she is just a moron. The headline reads: “I Asked ChatGPT What Would Happen If Elon Musk Paid Taxes at the Same Rate as the Middle Class” The claim is made in the article that Musk only pays a tax rate of about 3 percent, because his net worth increased so much.

The article claims that Musk can dodge taxes by using the value of his assets as collateral to take out a loan, which isn’t taxed. They are demanding that we tax people on the unrealized gains of their assets, because rich people something something.

The author is comparing apples to Volkswagens. The middle class, for the most part, pays taxes on income. It’s right there in the name: Income Tax. In the article, you are talking about taxing the rich on their wealth. It’s two entirely different concepts. If the two were equal, the middle class would be paying taxes on the value of their house, not on what they make.

As an example, let’s say that an average guy and his wife are making the US median income of $80k. They have two kids, take the standard deduction, and are thus paying $9400 in income tax, plus Social Security, Medicare and other payroll taxes totaling $11,752. That makes this family’s effective tax rate 14.69%. However, his house is worth $40,000 more than it was last year. That $40k is an unrealized gain, and this lowers his effective tax rate to 9.7%.

Now look at Elon’s taxes. They are screaming that his wealth increased by $86 billion in 2021, but he “only” paid $8.6 billion in taxes. They don’t say what he actually made, just what he is worth. It just isn’t a proper comparison.

My opinion here is that the powers that be desperately want the ability to tax wealth. Currently, this isn’t permitted because the 16th Amendment only permits the taxing of income, not wealth. Once they get the power to tax what you own, and not just what you make, there is no limit to what all of us can be taxed on.

• Your retirement account? 2% annual tax
• Your house? 4% annual tax
• You have a collectable car? taxed at 5% of its gain

The beauty of this, is that even if your unrealized gains are adjusted for inflation, the official rate of inflation is lower than the actual rate. So if they let you deduct 2% of your unrealized gains as being inflation, but the actual rate of inflation is 5%, you will pay taxes on that extra 3%.

This will make all of us poor in no time.

In yet another example of tax funds that can be cut from the budget, people who want to upgrade their homes at taxpayer expense are angry that the state isn’t taking your money and giving it to them.

That’s $280 million per year that is stolen from one set of homeowners and given to another. A married couple with two kids who make more than $27 per hour, can’t receive your money.

That budget money is $30 taken from each household in Florida. Just one program. How many more can be cut?

As I have posted before, property taxes in Florida are easy to understand, mostly.

Ad Valorem

In Florida, the county property appraiser is an elected position that estimates what your house is worth each year, called your “market value.” If your house is your primary residence, you can take a deduction called the “homestead exemption” of $25,000 from that market value if your home has a market value of more than $50,000. If your home has a market value of over $100,000, you can take another $25,000 exemption. This second exemption doesn’t apply to school taxes. The result is called your “assessed value.” Because of the second homestead exemption, this means that your home gets two assessed values: one for property taxes, and the second assessed value for school board taxes.

Each July, the property appraiser mails out the proposed value of each property to the property owner. If you don’t think that the value is fair, you have 30 days to appeal that valuation. Most people want it to be as low as possible, because that is the value that your taxes are based on.

It seems complicated, but it really isn’t. For example, let’s say that your house has been deemed by the property appraiser’s office to have a fair market value of $125,000, and your county charges a property tax rate of ten mills, plus the school board charges of 6 mils. You would take the $125,000 market value and subtract your homestead exemption to arrive at an assessed value of $75,000 for property taxes, and $100,000 for school board taxes. The tax of ten mills would make your property taxes $750 and $600 for the school board taxes, making your total property tax bill $1350. Clear so far? Good, because it gets a bit more complicated.

Save Our Homes

Back in 1995, the voters of Florida passed an Amendment to the state Constitution that limits the annual increase in the assessed value of your homestead to the lesser of 3% or the consumer price index. Since real estate increases more than that in value each year, the longer you own your home, the less you pay in taxes. The gap between the market value and the assessed value is called your “Save Our Homes” credit.

In most cases, you want the property appraiser to set your assessed value as low as possible. The only reason you don’t, is if you are about to move to a more expensive home. The reason is called portability. If you are moving from an old house to a new one, you can take your Save Our Homes credit with you. That can mean a significant tax savings.

Other Exemptions

There are other tax exemptions.

• Any widow/widower who owns property and is a permanent Florida resident may file for a $5,000 exemption.
• Homeowners who are totally & permanently disabled get a $5,000 exemption.
• The un-remarried, surviving spouse of a law enforcement officer, a correctional officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, or a paramedic killed in the performance of duty gets a 100% exemption on property taxes. There is an exception to this that I will explain later.
• Homeowners over 65 years of age who have an income less than $37,500 a year get an additional $50,000 exemption.
• In fact, there are a dozen more exemptions that also are available, but I don’t feel like listing them all here. The point is that the tax system has become cumbersome, confusing, and unfair.

Milage Rates

The tax collector (also an elected position) charges a “millage rate” as an “ad valorem” property tax. Each “mill” is 0.1% of your home’s assessed value.

The county charges me 5 mils, the school board charges a bit over 6 mils, water control district charges half a mil; police, fire, hospital taxes, and EMS collectively charge 1.4 mils, the town charges 7.5 mils, and some other charges total up to almost 21 mils, or about 2.1%.

Fees

Some towns and counties charge fees that are part of your property taxes, but are not based on your property value. These are usually flat fees, for example each address may be taxed $150 a year for fire fees regardless of value. This is usually done so that the local taxing officials can raise taxes for social programs while blaming the increase on something palatable like the fire department. They simply take the money they were spending on fire and redirect it to whatever pet project they want to fund, then use the fire fee money to continue (or even cut) the fire department’s funding. Then they blame the fire department for the “tax increase.”

Total Taxes

After homestead exemptions, other exemptions, and Save Our Homes are all subtracted, the result is the “Taxable Value.” The milage rate is applied to that number. If you own a $300,000 house, you would be paying $5500 a year in property taxes. I pay even more than that.

Taxes aren’t just a money grab, they are a means of social engineering when you grant carve out exemptions to favored groups like the AARP, illegal immigrants, and others. They are also a grift, in that much of this money gets directed into the pockets of politicians and their friends.

and you have to pay them, or see your property confiscated and your ass in jail.

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One note about the exemption for public safety that are injured in the line of duty. If you are off duty and see an auto accident, medical emergency, or fire, the pressure to do something is large. I used to stop for those sorts of things. Until the case of Shane Kelly, that is.

Firefighter Kelly stopped to assist victims of an auto accident on the Florida Turnpike in 2002. Shane was off duty. He was killed in full view of his wife when a tractor trailer slammed into the accident vehicles.  There were 2 occupants of the truck that killed Firefighter Kelly, and there was enough confusion as to which of them was driving that neither of them was ever charged.

The Federal Government ruled that Sean Kelly was acting in his capacity as a private citizen when he was killed, and since his death was not a line of duty death, his widow was not entitled to any of the benefits of the LOD status. Imagine how you would feel as an EMT, Firefighter, or other responder if you knew that helping an injured person carries the same risk of injury or death whether you are on duty or off duty, except that if you are injured, not only are you NOT paid for your time and skill, but you are not insured for that potentially career ending injury. Who will feed your family? Care for your kids?

In a meeting with my employer’s attorney, where Firefighters were attempting to get a written policy on what would be considered Line of Duty injury for off the clock employees, we were told that such decisions for off duty personnel would be made on a case by case basis by Administration AFTER the fact. I made a comment along the lines of, “So you get to decide AFTER I am injured whether or not you will pay for it. Will that decision take factors like the cost of treatment and PR benefit to you into account?” That REALLY pissed off the attorney. (I call ’em like I see ’em.)

After I learned of that case, I stopped helping out while off the clock. That policy marked the end of my stopping to help in emergencies. In fact, that policy change was a huge factor in my decision to retire.

How do I feel about fire department taxes? That is a topic for later in this week. I know what you probably THINK my feelings are, but you are probably wrong…

You get the government that you vote for, and Oregon residents can’t understand how they keep seeing their taxes raised. They were only supposed to tax the rich, you see…

Oregon Democrats passed a New Water Law – HB 2982

Starting Jan 1, 2026, a Kayak, paddle board, and even your inner tube counts as a BOAT in Oregon. If you do not have a permit you will face a $115 fine

“Because our government wants the money for people to float in the river” pic.twitter.com/H69rUOaF3D

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) July 15, 2025

Here is an interesting map of the world’s highest marginal tax rates.

I think that there is an important thing you need to realize has been overlooked about the US tax rate- it only is looking at IRS income tax. It isn’t taking the US Social Security tax rate into account. Adding that into the mix, and the highest US marginal rate is about 49 percent.

Furthermore, property, sales, or other indirect taxes are not included. It also omits state, provincial, and municipal taxes. In total, the US total tax burden averages out to about 31 percent of total income. Still, more than half of the people who live in the US are net receivers of US tax money. It’s a critical number. When more than half of the people who vote receive more money than they pay in taxes, there is no way that you can get the public support and votes to change anything.

Most of the people in the country care more about what people have left over after taxes than they are about the taxes that they themselves are paying. When I point out that a flat ten percent income tax with no deductions or adjustments permitted would get the nation $2.3 trillion a year in income tax revenue, people still complain. Why?

This would mean that a person who makes $10,000 a year would pay $1,000 in taxes, while a person making $10 million would pay $1 million in taxes, ten times as much. This isn’t as fair as a flat rate, but it’s more realistic and practical.

Still that isn’t good enough, because when I do point that out, the counter argument that they make is “Yeah, but that leaves the poor guy with only $9 thousand, while the rich guy still has 9 million.” To these people, taxes are a way of taking money from the rich so that everyone is equally poor. In other words, communism. It’s caused by pure envy and jealousy.

I maintain that if you took all of the wealth of the nation and redistributed it to each person, giving every one a million dollars, within 10 years the people who are now poor would all be broke, and the ones who are rich would mostly be rich again. Why?

The poor would spend it because they see money as something they use to buy things. Give people with this attitude a million bucks, they will have a house full of big screen TVs, gold chains, and fancy cars.

The rich would be rich again because they see money as a vehicle to make more money. While there are people who are rich due to graft and corruption, largely those people are government officials who earn their money by peddling influence. Most of the nation’s rich, the people in the top quintile, are there because of skill, hard work, and attitude. Give them a million bucks, and they will start a business selling those baubles to the people that are soon to be poor.

All taxes are supposed to be so that a society can have the things that it needs for us to exist- fire, police, courts, and common defense. Instead, it has become a way for one group of people to steal wealth from those who have earned it.

I don’t think that we should have ANY Federal level taxes on individuals. Instead, the Federal government should charge a per capita tax to each state. Let the states figure out how they want to come up with the money. Each state can charge it to their citizens, or perhaps they can add it as a tariff to exports. You want Alaskan oil? Salmon? Crab? Alaska is charging a tariff on that good in the amount of $$ to cover Alaska’s per capital tax obligations. Perhaps Florida could charge a tourist tax for beach or theme park access, or a tax on oranges. New York would be free to have an income tax. Each state decides. You get the idea.

The Democrats want to give a $5000 tax credit to couples who spend money on products made by small businesses in the USA. I plan on buying guns, gold, ammo, and other important supplies.

I just have to source them from qualifying vendors.

As you will recall, I was appealing the tax assessor’s valuation of my old house because I felt that the house had been undervalued for tax purposes. Since that would actually increase the taxes in my new house (I explain that here) I decided to appeal the valuation. The hearing was just a few days after my mother had passed away, so I will admit that I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been.

The hearing was in front of a magistrate. One thing that I felt was unfair about this is that the magistrate was an employee of the tax assessor’s office in another county. Since all of the counties in the state use the same methods and computer software, I don’t feel that the magistrate is an unbiased individual.

Still, I thought that I presented my case pretty well. I pointed out that my house was valued at $154/sf, but every house in my neighborhood sold for $195 to $210 per square foot, even using the assessor’s office’s numbers. Even at the low end, my house was undervalued by a significant margin.

That’s when the excuses started. The assessor claimed that they were permitted by law to subtract the customary costs of sale from the fair market value and then they began pointing out that the other houses that had sold had features that my house didn’t- one had a pool, one was a corner lot, two others were on the edge of the neighborhood, etc. This, according to them, made my house less valuable.

By the end of the hearing, the magistrate and the assessor were both explaining to me that I just don’t understand real estate. Keep in mind that they were all government employees whose judgement means nothing, because they don’t invest in real estate. They merely tax those who do. I was able to show, using the assessor’s own data, that the assessor’s office is consistently 15-25% lower than actual market value. That didn’t matter, I got lectured about how TOP MEN used computers to value this property, and the methods are used all over the state.

So I thought I had lost. I resigned myself to getting screwed by the tax man.

Imagine my surprise when I got the magistrate’s decision. I didn’t get a total win, and I didn’t even get as much as I hoped for, but I did get something. The magistrate recommended that my valuation be increased from $154 per square foot to $164 per square foot. Not great, but the increase will lower my property taxes on the new house by about $400 per year. In total, the deductions from Save Our Homes portability decrease my property taxes by about $3000 a year.

Do I like paying $750 a month in property taxes? No. That’s why I fight to keep my taxes as low as I can, and this hearing cost me $25 plus a few hours of my time. Property taxes and the 6 percent sales tax are the only taxes we pay here in Florida, so it’s just something that we have to live with. At least we don’t have personal property taxes or income taxes. Still, I often wonder what it is we get for that tax rate.