Louis Alfred Nickolas Stalwart Institute

With regard to Florida Amendment #3, the Position of the Louis Alfred Nickolas Stalwart Institute is as follows:

1. Every U.S. State’s Constitution, and Federal Law, dictates that all English Laws and Customs in effect in the then Colonies prior to their Independence from the English Crowne that does not contravene any current U.S. Law (or Custom) remains in force/enforceable. While there have been areas of Law where we have deviated from English Law as inherited (think: Trust Law), Land Ownership is not one such area – or, at least, no significant deviation as with Trust Law. The United States inherited its Land Ownership and Management System from England – and it remains largely un-changed. In English Law, the Crowne, as the Sovereign, is the Paramount of the Land that comprises the Homeland. Land Ownership prior to the Advent of Liberal Democracy was the means by and through which an individual earned the right to a seat at the table in political decision making (i.e., voting). Therefore, in the pre-Liberal Democracy conception of the Land Ownership System, Land Ownership was a privilege that carried with it Duties and Responsibilities. By contrast, Liberal Democracy discards the requirement to demonstrate any competency to be able to exercise the franchise, save the ability to Contract. The Remittance of Taxes to the state for the privilege of Land Ownership is a Duty and Responsibility of each Homeowner. Those who cannot deal with the Duties and Responsibilities of Home Ownership should and must absolve themselves of said ownership. While Home Ownership is the Crowne Jewel of the American Dream, Home Ownership is not a right – it is a privilege that comes with highly complex, often cost prohibitive Duties and Responsibilities. This is not new to the United States or Liberal Democracy. This is simply how Land Ownership has worked across time. To advocate for the complete dissolution of the non-school portion of Property Taxes is to fundamentally mis-understand what the state is and how the state functions.

2. The effective end-result of the Passage of Florida Amendment #3 is the centralisation of more Political Power in Tallahassee. Some municipalities will cease to function, and therefore, will cease to exist, without the funding provided by Property Tax Revenue. In those instances, the Residents of such municipalities will lose a direct link for advocacy in Tallahassee. More than simply coordinating trash and wastewater collection, municipal governments, with their intimate closeness to the Electorate, are uniquely positioned to lobby their county government and the state government to preserve, protect and defend the interests of their residents. Removal of this element will result in the electorate having less effective and efficient access to influence their elected officials at the county and state levels. If the issue is political waste, fraud, abuse and corruption at the municipal level, surely, the Florida Legislature can and should review state laws to ensure that county governments have the legal tools necessary and hold municipal governments and officials responsible for their political misfeasance, non-feasance and malfeasance. However, Florida Amendment #3 threatens to vastly erode the sphere of sovereignty of municipalities granted by state Law.

3. The effective end-result of the Passage of Florida Amendment #3 is the centralisation of more Financial Power in Tallahassee. In order to stabilise municipal finances where Florida Amendment #3 becomes the Law of the state, the Florida Legislature will likely establish a State Managed Fund that municipal governments can petition to fill budgetary gaps. Such a Fund would give Tallahassee a level of Authority that not one of the state’s 67 counties currently possess over the Affairs, both financial and otherwise, of the state’s municipalities. If the issue is financial waste, fraud, abuse and corruption at the municipal level, surely, the Florida Legislature can and should review state laws to ensure that county governments have the legal tools necessary to hold municipal governments responsible for their financial misfeasance, non-feasance and mal-feasance. However, Florida Amendment #3 threatens to vastly erode the relevant financial independence granted to municipalities by state Law.

4. In light of pointes two and three, the Institute is certain that the state’s less affluent municipalities will not fair very well in a post Florida Amendment #3 Regime. If and when Florida Amendment #3 becomes the Law of the state, it is highly likely, if not a certainty, that at least a simple majority of those municipalities in the state closest to and under the poverty line will cease to remain a going concern. That threatens to not only politically dis-empower certain portions of the state’s electorate, but we also run the risk of displacement of such individuals through the dissolution of such municipalities and their absorption into bigger, more affluent municipalities where Property Taxes are even higher that the state’s already inflated norms.  

5. The Baby Boomers, who account for 41.3% of all Homeowners in the state, will disproportionally benefit from the Property Tax Relief proposed by Florida Amendment #3. Nationally, Baby Boomers stand to benefit disproportionally from any Property Tax Relief Programmes as they account for 20% of the U.S. Population but have a Home Ownership Rate of 79.9%. To the Institute, Florida Amendment #3 seems like nothing more than a Political Initiative by the state’s Republican Establishment to “shore up” the Baby Boomer Demographic for the state’s Republican Party.

6. Tax Burdens do not disappear – they merely shift. If the owners of primary residences throughout the state receive relief on the non-school portion of their Property Taxes, then that burden will be shifted onto someone else. In this case, because the proposed Property Tax Relief does not extend to Investment, Multi-Family and Commercial Properties, the increased burden will fall to Lessees of Single-Family Units and Commercial Properties alike, in the form of increased Rents. Considering just Millennials and just Miami-Fort Lauderdale Area, Millennials comprise 56% of all Renters in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Area. This means that the generation of Americans, U.S. Citisens and Permanent Residents already feeling immense economic pressure will, at least in the state of Florida, be further squeesed in order to effect Property Tax Relief for a portion of the Demographic that is already set to consume more State Economic Welfare in the Form of Social Security and Medicare.