The people of Florida have not been well served by their elected officials for the last three months at all levels of government: state, county and city. Facing a serious economic crisis generated by property-tax inequities, those officials chose to demagogue the issues instead of working collaboratively to come up with reasonable solutions that would give tax relief to those needing it and correct long-standing defects in the state's tax structure.

In Tallahassee, the governor and state legislative leaders set taxpayers against their local governments by offering reckless tax cut proposals based on unsubstantiated claims of irresponsible governance by county and city elected officials. And instead of first looking at selective manpower trims and reducing salary, travel and fringe expenses, those local officials responded with threats to close down parks and libraries, to eliminate children's and senior citizens' programs, and to scale back police and fire departments.

Basking in unprecedented popularity, Gov. Charlie Crist sits on the sidelines, serving primarily as legislators' chief cheerleader instead of chief executive officer responsible for directing the leaders tinkering with the state's tax policy.

Potential for disaster

As a result, legislators head for a special session on tax reform beginning Tuesday with no clear plan for the reforms needed to address specific problems and a state full of angry voters pumped with unrealistic expectations. It has the potential for political disaster.

That may be too dire a forecast for the special session. We hope it is. But Floridians should be prepared for a far different outcome than they have been led to expect by House Speaker Marco Rubio, whose reckless slamming of local government generated much of taxpayers' anti-government ire. Certainly they should understand that their expectation of painless tax relief are not realistic. Last week's Quinnipiac University poll showing nearly half of Floridians want significant tax relief but oppose cutting local services is indicative of the problem the state faces in restoring economic stability through tax policy-making decisions.

Cut up to 10 percent

Here's the minimum that we expect from the session:

• Pass across-the-board tax cuts of up to 10 percent. And spread the pain across all branches of government, including schools and law enforcement. Excluding some agencies ensures that the pain will be concentrated in a relatively small area. Government officials who say they can't do that without hitting muscle and bone should call in business executives who daily are ordered to trim costs by corporate brass.

• Revise the assessment law that requires property values to be set at the highest and best use, rather than at the current use. This anomaly is forcing out small businesses in highly desirable areas where real estate values soared in the 2004-05 boom.

• Give small businesses a $25,000 exemption on tangible personal property taxes.

• Give relief to non-homesteaded property owners who don't qualify for the Save Our Homes 3 percent annual cap on tax increases. Soaring taxes fueled by the real estate boom have depressed the vacation home market and play a big role in the overall real estate downturn.

• Remove the inequity created by the Save Our Homes cap that prevents homeowners from trading up or down because of the massive tax hit they would face. This will require voter approval in a referendum as it involves a constitutional amendment - not an easy sell in the current anti-tax climate.

• Give extra tax relief to low-income homeowners, first-time home buyers and new workforce housing projects.

Such precise, targeted reforms will provide relief for those most impacted by oppressive tax burdens generated by soaring property values without decimating local government services. It is tax inequity, not the overall burden, that is driving citizen angst on this issue, and politicians who exploit the sour mood as an excuse to bash local government should be ashamed. The fact is that Florida is a relatively low-taxed state overall, ranked 39th in the nation in combined taxes as a percentage of income by the Tax Foundation for 2006. The state's property-tax burden is 31st in the nation - and this, it should be emphasized, is without a state income tax.

No denying that Florida needs tax relief from the special session of the Legislature. But it should be the kind of relief that is produced by a scalpel, not a cleaver.