<p>To respond: I find it a bit contradicting that you state Florida is already very expensive and oppose new taxes or lowered social scurity and yet then say </p>
<p>"The infrastructure just can not keep up with the demand. Not to mention the 100,000+ snowbirds (transient winter residents) who flock to FL each winter. Most of these people do not even pay real estate tax."</p>
<p>Obviously making it MORE expensive and/or introducing more/higher taxes is a good solution then. Simple Economics. If Demand > Supply then raise price. I doubt the flow is perfectly inelastic or even mostly inelastic.</p>
<p>U. of Miami is closing in on UF for the title of highest ranked school in the state of Florida. I think UF, U of Miami, and FSU to a lesser extent are the best schools in Florida. </p>
<p>Are Florida schools good? Yes are they as good as other states? </p>
<p>Not when compared to a lot of other states such as California or Connecticut</p>
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Obviously making it MORE expensive and/or introducing more/higher taxes is a good solution then. Simple Economics. If Demand > Supply then raise price. I doubt the flow is perfectly inelastic or even mostly inelastic.
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<p>Who are you going to throw the higher tax at? The elderly, which just happen to be the largest population class in the state? You want to see the complete and total downfall of a state, start messing with the seniors and their fixed incomes. The working class (in which Florida is a notoriously low-wage state)? When you go to Disney and spend a week in the fancy resorts you do realize that the corporations are the ones raking in the bucks right, while paying their employees $6.00 an hour right? Putting more tax on those folks is only going to raise the welfare rolls. Raising taxes just isn't the answer for everything. The only people left to tax higher is the tourists. And I don't have a problem with that in the least........;)</p>
<p>I would probably tax both the tourists and the elderly. The elderly should start using their power responsibly with the children in mind. They basically have a political monopoly on state affairs. In Northern Virginia and parts of Maryland, the affluent middle aged families have the power and throw a lot of their force to back the public schools. Almost all the NOVA schools send quite a few kids to UVA and the like with avg SATs in the 1200+s. This is why it is now harder to get into schools like UVa if you are from Northern Virginia. The same has happened to New Jersey. </p>
<p>To argue that the state will collapse by taking a bit of money out of the wealthy and all-powerful elderly in Florida is quite hilarious. Kind of like saying Microsoft would collapse if I went and robbed all the Xbox 360's from a nearby Best Buy. The taxes would not even be noticeable considering the position of the elderly in Florida; as you agree they are the largest population in the state and they sure are the most influential. When one group has too much power though (both economically and politically) it is at the detriment of others. </p>
<p>The taxes would also allow the exploration of other locations as good places to retire. Having everybody go to Florida to retire is not desirable.</p>
<p>The elderly have tons of money, just look at aventura, boca raton, jupiter,ft.myers etc filled with old rich people so tax them more for all I care, and more taxes for the tourist would be good also.</p>
<p>Visirale, my dad's law degree is from UF :)</p>
<p>FSUUF, housing prices are getting insane. We just went to Boca to see my family and go house shopping as well (my parents want to retire to FL). We couldnt get jack **** for 1 Mil. in Boca. Our house here in PA is worth just under a Mil., and we have a TON of land compared to what we could get in Boca. Needless to say, there is a huge amount of appreciation in the Boca and surrounding area, and now isn't the time to buy a house unless you are rediculously wealthy.</p>
<p>So I'm reconsidering UF. It's so much cheaper and my quality of life would be so much better (my mom said she'd by me a nice apartment if I stayed in state... and a new sporty car... ha). I would have no loans (and make several thousand a year from scholarships), meaning grad school would be a lot more economically viable.</p>
<p>I think it'd be better to have an undergrad degree from a state school then a grad degree from a bigger school than the other way around. </p>
<p>And for anyone doubting the academic prestige of UF, here's some info I found.</p>
<p>The MINIMUM standards for admittance into the honors program is a 1400 SAT (old scale, obviously...) and a 4.0 weighted. Nothing to shake a stick at...</p>
<p>You would NOT be settling in any way if you went to UF. PEriod. As far af Florida schools not being as good as Connecticut, I would LOVE to see this statement backed up with fact, because it is FALSE.</p>
<p>Tomslawsky ever hear of a place called Yale? Florida can't compare. Ever hear of Wesleyan? Again Florida can't compare. Connecticut also has Trinity and Connecticut Colleges.</p>
<p>You would NOT be settling in any way if you went to UF. PEriod. As far af Florida schools not being as good as Connecticut, I would LOVE to see this statement backed up with fact, because it is FALSE.</p>
<p>As much as I love FL, the colleges there are not even CLOSE to CT's.
Dunk, dont forget UConn :)</p>
<p>Obviously, in my opinion, UF is right up there with any university in the country. Sure it was an incredible deal with bright futures and NMF scholarships but I wouldn't even consider going there if I wasn't 100% sure that the education I receive at UF could match the education I would receive at any of those other schools.</p>
<p>I had a math teacher when I was in Florida that was a Stetson graduate that always stood out in a positive way to me. Always heard it's a good school.</p>
<p>I thought you were comparing public colleges in florida to those in Conn, Florida has that category beat. There is a better crop of private colleges in Conn.</p>
<p>I haven't heard any mention of Florida Gulf Coast University. It may be part of FSU? We visited there and I have been trying to research the education my daughter might get there. She loved it - it just felt "right" as far as atmosphere.</p>
<p>FGC is its own university, and it's kind of a joke to my fellow students and me, at least where I am in Florida. The same goes for Florida Atlantic. Honestly, I barely think FGC is worth attending if you're in state with Bright Futures; the few I know who go there are the ones who were rejected by UF, FSU, UCF, USF, etc. Coming from out of state seems like a waste of money to me.</p>