State ponders tax hike after property crash

Plunging real estate values will create a $700 million statewide shortfall, due to a 12 percent decline in property values used to fund schools. That’s prompted the state Senate to create a constitutional amendment — potentially for a fall special election — that would combine the 1-cent sales tax increase with a proposal to loosen voter-approved class-size requirements as Florida wrestles with school funding issues. The tax hike could raise $2.8 billion, but the measure would require 75 percent approval in the House and Senate to get on the ballot. Then 60 percent of Florida voters would have to give it the nod for the measure to pass.