Editor: Taxes rise with higher homestead exemptions

There’s a movement afoot to more than double the state’s homestead exemption, and it is attracting support. But Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball says this could hit many backers in the pocketbook. “When you continually pass property tax after property tax, the law isn’t necessarily concerned with the millage rates involved, it only focuses on the amount of money those millage rates generate,” he says. This could force tax assessors to drastically roll up millage rates in order to ensure that collections remain the same, even with a higher homestead exemption. Read the column here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.