| 1 | The Finance & Tax Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to the deferral of ad valorem property |
| 7 | taxes; amending s. 197.252, F.S.; decreasing the age and |
| 8 | increasing the income threshold required for eligibility |
| 9 | to defer ad valorem property taxes; decreasing the maximum |
| 10 | interest rate that may be charged on deferred ad valorem |
| 11 | taxes; providing an effective date. |
| 12 |
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| 13 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) and subsection |
| 16 | (4) of section 197.252, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 17 | 197.252 Homestead tax deferral.-- |
| 18 | (2) |
| 19 | (b) If In the event the applicant is entitled to claim the |
| 20 | increased exemption by reason of age and residency as provided |
| 21 | in s. 196.031(3)(a), approval of such application shall defer |
| 22 | that portion of such ad valorem taxes plus non-ad valorem |
| 23 | assessments which exceeds 3 percent of the applicant's |
| 24 | household's income for the prior calendar year. If any such |
| 25 | applicant's household income for the prior calendar year is less |
| 26 | than $10,000, or is less than the amount of the household income |
| 27 | designated for the additional homestead exemption pursuant to s. |
| 28 | 196.075 and the $12,000 if such applicant is 65 70 years of age |
| 29 | or older, approval of the such application shall defer such ad |
| 30 | valorem taxes plus non-ad valorem assessments in their entirety. |
| 31 | (4) The amount of taxes, non-ad valorem assessments, and |
| 32 | interest deferred pursuant to this act shall accrue interest at |
| 33 | a rate equal to the semiannually compounded rate of one-half of |
| 34 | 1 percent plus the average yield to maturity of the long-term |
| 35 | fixed-income portion of the Florida Retirement System |
| 36 | investments as of the end of the quarter preceding the date of |
| 37 | the sale of the deferred payment tax certificates; however, the |
| 38 | interest rate may not exceed 7 9.5 percent. |
| 39 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |