Transfer tax
I've been writing about local government funding and the relationship of the state to the locals for a couple of decades now. Given that we saw a serious 'no' vote on the real estate transfer tax and are in the midst of another discussion over property taxes, I thought I'd get another revenue source that's not talked about all that much on the table.
Thanks to The Independent Weekly for their recent article uncovering who is funding some of the most contentious local campaigns.
We already knew that statewide realtors and developer interests were funding the opposition to the Land Transfer Tax, including deceptive mailings and robocalls. Now we can see just how much money they are pouring in to fight this modest proposal. Fiona Morgan reports that the realtors had raised $234,239 as of April 28th.
The committee has spent $205,115 on direct mailings, polls and ads.
With 95,805 registered voters in Orange County, that amounts to $2.14
spent per voter as of April 18, more than two weeks before the election.
- Independent Weekly: Orange: Sprawl lobby just says no to LTT, 4/30/08
I just got a robocall from a group calling itself "Citizens for a better Orange County" that opposes the Transfer Tax. It calls the tax the "Home Tax," which is clearly wrong on two levels. Firstly, the proposed tax is on all land sales, and secondly it is an attempt to falsely personalize this tax for local homeowners. Oh, and it fails to mention an important detail: the tax rate would be 0.4%. That's right: four tenths of a percent. That's one thousand dollars on a $250k hypothetical home. Sounds like too much money? Well, what are the alternatives? If this is defeated, the only two alternatives that have been seriously discussed are a sales tax (the most regressive tax possible) and a property tax increase. A property tax increase would be a home tax. Everything about the robocall was misleading and dishonest.
The call directs people to a website that I won't link to here. The website refers to "Tom Holt" as their treasurer and "Mark Zimmerman" as their spokesperson. A bit of googling gives:
Next week we will be organizing a committee to be called Citizens for
Schools and Parks to advocate for passing the real estate transfer tax
in Orange County. This group will be ad-hoc and will dissolve after
this May's vote on the issue.
If you are concerned about school, park and open space funding in
Orange County and want to help pass this referendum, then please come
to this meeting. If you cannot come, then please email
Mark_Chilton@hotmail.com to let us know how you can help.
Date:
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 3:30pm
Location:
Carrboro Town Hall in Room 100
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