Though I've lived in Tennessee for many years, I spent my growing up years in the Sunshine State. One thing I remember over the years is Florida's interesting tax strategy - slam tourists. Hotel taxes, car rental taxes, airport taxes - you name it. And this has made Florida's cities some of the most expensive for travel taxes of any cities in the world.



Now Florida is sticking it to people coming to the state on work visas. Florida's property tax rules have been skewed to make non-immigrants ineligible for the major property tax deductions available to citizens and green card holders. This is not entirely new, but Florida used to be a very cheap state for real estate. In the last few years, property values have exploded. Citizens and green card holders are guaranteed their taxes won't rise by more than 3% per year which means that newcomers carry the biggest burden. Plus, non-immigrants lack eligibility for a homestead exemption which means that a greater percentage of the value of their properties are taxable.

With Congress considering legislation to make the US more attractive to global talent - particularly for people with graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and math - one has to wonder whether Florida will be taken off the list of places those talent workers will be going.