Tax Swap Amendment is Out TAMPA (WUSF) - Florida voters will not get a chance to swap their school property taxes for other state taxes. Within hours of hearing legal arguments, the Florida Supreme Court removed Amendment 5 from the ballot along with two other constitutional proposals.

The ballot title for Amendment 5 is "Eliminating state required school property tax and replacing with equivalent state revenues to fund education."

The high court upheld a lower court's ruling that the title and summary are misleading because nowhere is it stated that the tax replacement is guaranteed for only one year.

During oral arguments, Justice Fred Lewis called the title deceptive. He said a proposed amendment should be required to not be misleading "so that the people of Florida will know what they're voting on."

The high court also removed Amendment 7 titled "Religious Freedom" and Amendment 9. Both would have expanded school vouchers. The justices ruled the state Taxation and Budget Reform Commission overstepped its authority placing those proposals on the ballot because they did not deal with taxes or budget.
© Copyright 2009, WUSF