Tax section's legislative positions.

The Tax Section annual report stated in the June issue, "Under the leadership of Codirectors J.J. Wehle and Jim Ervin, the State Tax Division prepared a legislative package (H.B. 1261) aimed at promoting fairness and equity in Florida's tax system." If this is indeed the Tax Section's concept of fairness, it seems to me a little like that in Animal Farm, where all animals were equal but some were more equal than others.

The bill would have dramatically changed the law in favor of major taxpayers in assessment challenge suits. The bill would permit a tenant to contest his landlord's property tax assessment without the owner's consent, which is now required. Next, the bill would have tilted the playing field in favor of taxpayers by making tax assessments subject to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, of which you have never heard. In a year when the cost of government is under attack, compliance with this sea change would greatly increase the costs of operating a county property appraiser's office. The penalty in the bill for the property appraiser's noncompliance with USPAP would be to shift the burden of proof in a tax assessment challenge to the defendant property appraiser, and if the presumption of correctness was not overcome, to lower the taxpayer's burden of proof from the present clear and convincing evidence to a simple preponderance of the evidence. And there's more in the bill.

The Bar needs to closely monitor and vet the ability of sections to advance legislation in the name of all of the lawyers of Florida, especially when a proposal is a not-very-thinly disguised effort to change substantive law to favor one litigant over another. H.B. 1261 may not seem like a big deal if you do not practice ad valorem tax law, but I assure you, as one who has practiced in this arena since 1968, this bill was the biggest of big deals in saving property taxes for the large and powerful clients of those who were advancing this unseemly agenda. Thankfully, this schmutz died in committee.

GAYLORD A. WOOD, JR., Bunnell

Section Response: These legislative positions were adopted in accordance with the Tax Section's bylaws and the Board of Governors' legislative policies. The Tax Section advocated these positions in its own name, not on behalf of all Bar members. The Tax Section welcomes and encourages all viewpoints and participation by its members. Animal House, perhaps, but not Animal Farm.

MARK E. HOLCOMB, Tallahassee, Immediate Past Chair, Tax Section of The Florida Bar