*****SPAM***** [Politech] Florida court rules on disclosing SSNs violates privacy rights [priv]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Tue Aug 17 2004 - 06:10:57 PDT


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Archived at:
http://www.politechbot.com/2004/08/17/florida-ssn-tax/

FRED A. THOMAS and JOY S. THOMAS, Appellants, v. JIM SMITH, in his
capacity as Property Appraiser of Pinellas County, Florida; DIANE
NELSON, in her capacity as Tax Collector of Pinellas County, Florida;
and JIM ZINGALE, in his capacity as Executive Director of the State of
Florida, Department of Revenue, Appellees.

COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA, SECOND DISTRICT
Case No. 2D02-4018 
August 13, 2004, Opinion Filed

Fred A. Thomas and Joy S. Thomas (the Taxpayers) appeal the circuit
court's order dismissing their fifth amended complaint with
prejudice. The Taxpayers argue that section 196.011(1)(b), Florida
Statutes [*2] (1997), which requires disclosure of the Taxpayers'
social security numbers as a condition of obtaining a homestead tax
exemption for their residence, violates their right to privacy under
the Florida Constitution, the Privacy Act of 1974 (the federal Privacy
Act), and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Florida and the United
States Constitutions. We conclude that the circuit court's dismissal
of the Privacy Act and equal protection claims is supported by the
record, and we affirm the circuit court's order without further
discussion to the extent that it dismissed those claims with
prejudice. However, we agree with the Taxpayers that the circuit court
erred in dismissing with prejudice their claim for an alleged
violation of their right to privacy under the Florida
Constitution. Therefore, we reverse the dismissal of the Taxpayers'
fifth amended complaint in part, and we remand this case for further
proceedings.

...
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