As a new fiscal year approaches, the Volusia County Council is looking to scrap a couple of sources of revenue.
Without objection, the council Aug. 15 tentatively decided to abolish the communications tax and the business-tax receipts tax.
“I like the idea of getting rid of every tax that we possibly can,” Council Member Troy Kent said.
The council intends to repeal the tax, effective Jan. 1, 2024.
If the council follows through, people living or operating a business in the unincorporated sections of the county will no longer have the county-imposed 5.22-percent levy on their monthly bills for telephone, cable or satellite TV or internet voice-over service. The elimination of the tax applies only in the non-city parts of the county. The county’s communications tax currently yields about $3 million annually, and the revenues go into the Municipal Services District fund.
Cities that have their own communications tax are not affected by the county’s action.
The county’s proposed 2023-24 budget includes almost $79 million for the county’s MSD. The MSD allocation, however, puts the reserves at approximately $38.4 million.
“It’s a $3 million item that I think we can absorb,” Kent said. “Let’s get rid of a tax.”
Similarly, the County Council moved to get rid of the business-tax receipts, sometimes called business licenses or occupational licenses.
The BTRs generate almost $876,000 per year, and the county distributed a portion of the payments, some $411,000, to the 16 cities. The county thus nets about $464,000 from its business licenses. Of that sum for the county, about $316,000 goes into the general fund, and almost $148,000 goes into the MSD fund.
Some county staffers cautioned against abolishing the BTRs.
“We use business-tax receipts as a stopgap,” Growth and Resource Management Director Clay Ervin said.
Ervin noted those applying for business licenses alert county regulators about the zoning of the business address, whether impact fees have been paid, and whether fire-safety inspections have been completed.
5.22 percent
How much Volusia County currently levies in taxes on monthly bills for phones, cable TV and more
$3 million
How much money Volusia County receives annually from its communications tax. That money goes to the county’s Municipal Services District fund, which goes toward Volusia County Sheriff’s Office operations in unincorporated areas and contracted cities, animal control and more.
$876,000
Money generated by Volusia County business-tax receipts, also known as business licenses
$411,000
Funds raised by Volusia’s business-tax receipts that were then distributed out to cities in Volusia County. What was left of the $876,000 for the county was distributed into its general fund and Municipal Services District fund
The bigger problem we have is the unequal and unfair property tax system that allows for some homeowners to pay as little as nothing while others are forced to pay many thousands of dollars a year. There is a member of the County Council that pays no property taxes on a home valued at over $700 thousand while I have younger hard working friends paying between $3,222 ($268.50 a month) and $8,673 ($722.75 a month). I, like so many other older established folks, have deep discounted property taxes only paying $1,310 a year ($109.16 a month) and there are many paying much less. My property taxes went up $110.06 since last year and a friend of mine had his property taxes go up $692.23.
For the most part we all receive, or should receive, the same level of services but some have to pay much more for those services and that is unfair and wrong. Many of us older and more established folks are in part living on the backs of our younger hard working class. And those who work extra hard putting in the extra hours and working the extra jobs so they can have a nicer home get penalized for it as they are forced to pay even more in property taxes. And we must not forget, renters are penalized worse than full time resident homeowners because rental properties do not receive the same property tax discounts and property taxes on rental properties are passed along to the renters.
The American Revolutionary War was fought primarily over unfair taxation, we have lost our way since. What is also insane is, there are people who pay little if any property taxes who will pack meetings of our County Council and will push for property taxes to be raised and taxes to be spent on things they want but will not have to help pay for. And of course again, there are members of the County Council paying little if anything at all in property taxes.
We need to go to a fee based system that would require all single family home owners to pay one base fee for most essential services. We also need our local and County governments to get back to their core responsibilities and we need for them to do their core responsibilities well. As we drive around DeLand and out in the areas maintained by the County, it is easy to see our local and County governments are failing us. And the County certainly needs to stop doing our charitable giving for us and they need to stop giving our money away to developers and corporations.
And we must not leave out our Volusia County School board as they waste more of our money than the County Council.
Mr. Chester,
Please lookup the Save Our Homes law that is found within the Florida Constitution. This will answer yours questions of why your neighbor pays more then you.
I find it puzzling that you’d like to increase taxes on elderly Floridians most of whom are on a fixed income and have lived in the same home all their adult life.
New property owners know what they are getting into when they make the single biggest purchase of their life. If they choose to plead ignorance to this fact, shame on them.
Well said Jim. Thank you for informing Chester.
Jim, I am well aware of “Save our Homes”. I am a lifelong Floridian, like my mother and father before me. In fact, we all were born in West Volusia County. Additionally, I am on a so-called fixed income and pay over $1,000 a month for my medical needs. The term “fixed income” is widely abused. Here is what I know, as a poor kid I was able to work hard and pull myself up and even buy a home at a young age. I have been very fortunate and I did not have as many obstacles in my way as younger hard working people do today. We have a housing crisis and our younger hard working people who are from here are finding it hard to afford a home and the harder they work the more they are penalized and the harder they work the less eligible they become for housing programs they are forced to help pay for that others will benefit from. And if our young people work extra hard so they can build or buy a new home here they will have to pay $9,264 in impact fees just for the privilege.
I don’t know if you have noticed Jim, there are a lot of old folks in Volusia County and many of the medical service providers, restaurants, retailers, and other groups that provide us with services have had a difficult time finding the help that they need to provide the services we need and enjoy. We need our working class young people to be able to stay here and thrive here.
As for me Jim and David, I am not selfish, I have a full understanding of why are forefathers fought the Revolutionary War, I am for everyone truly paying their fair share, and I am for governments at every level taking less from all of us and not taking from us by force and giving the money they have taken to others. America’s form of socialism is one of the most unfair forms of socialism in the world. This is not the way our founders wanted it to be, we have lost our way.