North Carolina Voters Say NO to Real Estate Transfer Taxes
November 7th, 2007 Categories: Buying a Home, Selling a Home
Voters in 16 North Carolina counties sent a strong message to state and local lawmakers in Tuesday’s election. Sixteen counties, including our neighbors in Johnston and Chatham, put a referendum on the ballots to triple the real estate transfer tax. Voters clearly rejected the idea by margins of at least 3 to 1 in every county.
The word on the street is that the Wake County Commissioners were planning to put the transfer tax on the ballet in 2008. They may rethink their strategy now that the public has spoken in these other counties. Maybe they were uncertain all along. This would explain why we did not see it on Tuesday’s ballot here in Wake County.
Folks, this was doomed from the start. State lawmakers realized the potential opposition earlier this year. That’s when they resorted to sneaking the proposal giving counties the ability to vote individually into a Medicaid reform package. I seriously doubt it could have passed on its own merit. Obviously lawmakers had their doubts too.
The fact is taxes influence behavior. If your elected officials had their way, the tax on selling a $200,000 home would have risen from $400 to $1,200! As suppliers’ (sellers’) costs increase in a market, prices tend to rise to compensate. The end result of this tax increase would likely be higher real estate prices in Raleigh and surrounding areas.
The real estate and builder community did a great job of getting the word out. And because the public had all the facts, you voted against this bad idea. You did real good so far… but don’t take your eyes off this one. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see it resurface in a clever disguise in 2008 or even 2009.
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Bob, Great post on transfer taxes. Where I live we have MAJOR transfer taxes as well as recordation taxes. Even though they are normally split between home buyers and home sellers the cost is very high. Fight this as much as possibl. Once they establish a transfer tax in Raleigh you will always have it! They never cut your taxes.
Scott - Thanks for your comment. Trust me, I will continue to fight this. And so will every other Realtor, lender and consumer who cares anything at all about keeping the cost of buying and selling a home in Raleigh from escalating out of control.