Finally, Some Good Government News

Okay, I admit, a lot of the recent posts have been a little negative. Today, let me share some good government news, if only a local success story. Today, I received our 2010 property tax statement for our Tampa Bay home. When we lived in New Jersey, this was usually a bad day since every year our New Jersey property taxes seemed to go up hundreds and hundreds of dollars. The good news today was that our tax bill for 2010 will go down at least 13% and possibly more. Consider what has happened to our Florida property taxes since 2005:

• 2005 - Living in New Jersey, we were paying over $12,000 a year in property taxes or about $4.00 per square foot.
• 2007 - Moving to Florida, we were paying about $6,600 a year in property taxes or about $3.22 per square foot, about 20% less than in New Jersey.
• 2009 - By 2009 our property taxes had dropped to about $4,500 or $2.23 per square foot.
• 2010 - With the arrival of today's tax bill, our property tax bill had dipped under $3,800 or $1.94 per square foot! Our house size and amenities were unchanged during this time frame.

Thus, our Florida property tax bill has dropped about 40% in three years and 13% in the past year. Many factors went into this performance but the bottom line is that we are paying less in taxes and the state of Florida has not imploded or exploded from this trend. Florida public schools still opened today, street lights worked, police were on patrol and the government was still functioning and functional. Bravo to the Florida political class, at least they have taken some positive steps in getting government spending under control. My tax bill proves two things in my eyes:

1. There is a lot of fat and bloat in every level of government in this country, so much so that the Florida state government was able to reduce my taxes so much and so quickly, and probably many Floridans' taxes, without disastrous effects.
2. Many steps in the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" are very doable from a budget reduction perspective on the national level if only the DC political class had the brains and fortitude to do it. The Florida political class has proved it in my world at least.