Florida’s Property Insurance By Fiat
October 2, 2007Should state government subsidize property insurance costs for homes most likely to sustain damage from a natural disaster? Florida Gov. Charlie Crist thinks so. Since Hurricane Wilma blew through Florida in October 2005, property insurance costs have more than doubled for most homeowners. Such rate increases, coupled with higher property taxes, have made homeownership more difficult to achieve or maintain in Florida. Hearing the pleas of his constituents during his …
Palisades Hudson Adds Staff Members
October 1, 2007
Three new staffers joined our Scarsdale and Fort Lauderdale offices this year, as Palisades Hudson Financial Group LLC continued to expand. Benjamin Sullivan joined the Scarsdale staff as a client service associate in February, just in time to pitch in during last winter’s busy tax season. Christopher Reynolds joined the Scarsdale staff in June, while ReKeithen Miller was added to the Fort Lauderdale roster in May. Ben, 23, graduated from …
Federal Court Reverses Controversial Tax Ruling
October 1, 2007As abruptly as it tossed out a provision of the federal tax code — and called many other provisions into question — a federal appeals court has reversed itself, saying, in effect, “Never mind.” Law professors and tax professionals widely criticized the original decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which struck down a rule that made compensatory damages for non-physical personal injuries taxable. …
Florida Schools’ Quest For Accountability
October 1, 2007Since the Florida Legislature enacted its accountability act for public schools in 1976, the state has searched for tools to keep schools honest. The result is reliance — some would say an over-reliance — on standardized tests. The 1976 act implemented statewide assessments that established the nation’s first high school graduation test and regular evaluations for grades three, five, eight and 11. The original State Student Assessment Tests and various …
Have We Learned Our Lending Lesson At Last?
October 1, 2007I first noticed the recently ended housing bubble in 1997, when a client sold a home near Washington, D.C., and the buyer put 3 percent down and financed the rest. I was astonished. One of the major culprits in the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, which ultimately cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $125 billion, was “asset-based lending.” This occurs when the principal security for a loan is the …
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