Vote YES on Amendment 2

In the ongoing effort to make heads-or-tails out of ye olde sample ballot, yours truly came across another no-brainer in supporting Amendment 2:

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to require the Legislature to provide an additional homestead property tax exemption by law for members of the United States military or military reserves, the United States Coast Guard or its reserves, or the Florida National Guard who receive a homestead exemption and were deployed in the previous year on active duty outside the contintental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in support of military operations designated by the Legislature. The exempt amount will be based upon the number of days in the previous calendar year that the person was deployed on active duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in support of military operations designated by the Legislature. The amendment is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2011.

Our military families bear a tremendous burden on our behalf every day, but especially when their loved-ones are deployed overseas. In the case of reserves and National Guard troops, this can have a huge (negative) impact on their family budgets because it often means a cut in pay from their private sector jobs. We should do anything we can to lighten their burden, and Amendment 2 does that.