Tax bill break ahead?

The Florida House is moving forward with a tax break for first-time home buyers that would offer thousands in up-front savings to lure reluctant buyers into Florida's ailing real estate market.

The break would give buyers who have never claimed a Florida homestead a 50 percent property-value exemption, resulting in about $2,000 in savings on a $200,000 home. For owners, the break would phase out over five years.

Pushed by Gov. Charlie Crist, supporters are promoting the measure, which would appear on the 2010 ballot, as an economic stimulus plan aimed at whittling the 300,000-plus unsold homes languishing on the market. The 20-month backlog is eroding home values and feeding the foreclosure crisis, because owners can't sell their homes, they said. "Every new buyer makes one home disappear," said Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, the bill's sponsor.

If the Legislature passes the tax break this spring, it would go before voters as a constitutional amendment in November 2010 and require 60 percent approval to become law. A House committee passed the measure with strong bipartisan support Wednesday, but critics point to a flaw: It gives first-time home buyers a tax break not available to those who bought in recent years, before the market crashed.

Anything that would make it less costly for the buyer is a help to both buyer and seller. But, the reduction in tax revenues has to be made up somewhere...