Badcock executive supports Florida tax cut
Gains industry backing for campaign
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, December 14, 2007
MULBERRY, Fla. — Furniture retailer Wogie Badcock III is raising industry money to support a Florida constitutional amendment designed to cut property taxes and get the state’s housing market rolling again.
Amendment 1, up for public vote Jan 29, would create what’s being called the largest tax cut in Florida history by doubling the homestead exemption to $50,000 from $25,000, and sheltering homebuyers from big tax increases when they move from homes with low taxes into homes that recently have soared in value.
Badcock is executive vice president of public affairs for Top 100 chain Badcock Home Furniture & more here, and an officer of the Florida Home Furnishings Assn. He and others say passage of the amendment will boost furniture sales.
In an e-mail to Florida retailers and their suppliers, he asked for $50,000 to support Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s $12 million campaign for a “yes” vote on the amendment. The e-mail went to some 150 furniture retailers and suppliers, including members of the FHFA, and quickly raised the $50,000.
“Now we’re looking for another $50,000,” Badcock said, adding that response has been strong from both sides of the industry.
Badcock also sits on the executive committee of the broad-based Florida Retail Federation, and said that organization generally isn’t supporting the fundraising effort because many believe the amendment doesn’t do enough to address the tax burden on businesses and investment properties.
But Badcock said some relief is better than none, and because furniture sales correlate with the ups and downs of the housing market, the industry needs to get behind the amendment.
He cited research showing that when a consumer moves into a new home, she will spend about $10,000 that year on home furnishings, versus $600 to $700 when she hasn’t made a move.
“So we’d like to see a robust housing market in Florida because we benefit from that,” Badcock said. Some 142 of Badcock’s more than 330 stores in the Southeast are in Florida.
“I know business is very bad right now, but believe a jumpstart to our housing industry is a move in the right direction,” Badcock said in his e-mail.
Under a “Save Our Homes” amendment passed in 1992, annual property tax increases in Florida were capped at 3% a year. However, when buyers moved into new homes, their taxes tended to shoot up to reflect more expensive recent home values. Under the new amendment, residents would get to carry over the accrued tax savings up to $500,000 and avoid such a spike.
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