01:00 AM EDT on Monday, May 29, 2006

In the May 11 article by Lynn Arditi, "Forecast predicts tough times ahead for state's economy" (Business), she quotes University of Rhode Island Prof. Edward M. Mazze as follows: "How do you hide the fact that one-third of the license plates in Rhode Island are Florida? Does that tell you something?"

Well, I have Florida tags and I will share with you what it should tell Rhode Island residents. In Florida:

No state income tax.

No property tax on my automobile.

Annual increases in my property tax are limited by state law to 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index increase, whichever is lower.

The property tax is frozen at the evaluation of your house at time of purchase for as long as you own your home, no matter how high similar homes rise in value over the years.

You get a $25,000 home-owner exemption from the value of your home every year.

No estate tax.

The sales tax in my county is 6 percent.

No inspection of automobiles is required.

No tax on my pension.

I receive a pension from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and if I reside in Massachusetts or Florida, or in many other states, I do not have to pay taxes on it. But guess what. If I were a Rhode Island resident, I would have to pay taxes on my pension.

I have a small summer cottage in Portsmouth, R.I., with no cellar or central heat. I can live in it only from about May to October without the possibility of the water pipes' freezing. My taxes this year increased 39 percent. My taxes in Florida, as I noted above, cannot rise more than 3 percent a year, as based on the original value of my home, and this value will never change for as long as I own my home (called the Save Our Home Act, of 1992).

Assume that my taxes are $1,500 (actually $1,440). That means my taxes cannot increase more than about $45 a year -- for a beautiful two-bed, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot ocean-front condo on Hutchinson Island, in Stuart.

Generally, retirees are a major asset to a community, for a number of reasons (no children in the school system, good citizens, spend money, etc.). I read an article some time ago that one retiree is equivalent to 1.5 manufacturing jobs. Rhode Island should be attracting retirees.

The way I look at it is that I did not want to leave Rhode Island, but Rhode Island drove me out of the state.

To get back to Professor Mazze's question, "Does that tell you something?" Well, it certainly told me something.

RONALD S. PERRY

Stuart, Fla.