While attention has been given to other high-profile amendments on November's ballot, a lesser known amendment has the potential to raise local taxes and cause unintended consequences for community colleges -- Florida's point of entry to higher education for more than 800,000 students every year.
Amendment 8, known as the local option sales tax, would allow counties to increase their sales tax to supplement community college funding. (Taxpayers would have to vote for the tax.) The amendment was placed on the ballot by the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission with what I believe were good intentions to promote the valuable contributions of community colleges. However, the commission failed to recognize the amendment's potential drawbacks for the community college system.
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