Proposed Transfer Tax on home sales (Raleigh: buyer, new construction, contractor)

[southward bound]

Originally Posted by CaliBoy

Any chance a government can legally enforce a tax, it seems there gonna do it. But I am against the transfer tax especially for existing homeowners. In Durham, it's tough enough to sell a house, much less make a profit. This just eats into any little benefit I will get. And, really, who will be accountable for the money and how it is spent. I've seen countless posts about taxes and tolls and programs that were designed to solve one problem, but the problem the money was supposed to solve did not do a damn thing. The transfer tax singles out homeowners, not renters. I'm more up for a rise in a sales tax since I feel like we're, then, all in it together. But why should I pay a tax for taking a risk in a neighborhood where selling the property is going to be difficult enough as it is? And why should existing homeowners pay this? If anything, because I believe our government officials will probably pass this regardless of public opinion, the tax should not go into effect while existing homeowners own their home. At least, the new homeowners will know what lies ahead. Had I known, we probably would have rented during this last year. Because owning a home has not rewarded us with anything yet since the amount we already pay in taxes and the savings from year end taxes, the amount that went into the kitty was still more than what we would have paid in rent.

Okay, that's an impulsive rant. I'm usually more articulated than this. But I am against more taxes especially on those who decide to purchase a home and have risk, to boot.

Btw, is the tax on the equity only, or the whole price. If the latter, that's worse. Cuz if I sell my house at a loss because the city couldn't improve it's image and attract more homeowners, why should the city benefit?

Oh well, NC certainly has a lot of taxes. I was surprised that NC taxes food. That's ridiculous.

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said, especially the last line.
Taxing food IS ridiculous. It's not like that's optional, or can be postponed, like other purchases.

[mm34b]

Taxation of food in NC is a bit complicated, but generally the state government doesn't tax unprepared food, but your local county government does. It basically comes down to the actual item and how it's sold.

See Section 19-2 for the details - http://www.dornc.com/practitioner/sa.../section19.pdf

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Anybody catch the discussion this morning on 680 AM WPTF about the Land Transfer Tax? Radio show host Jack Boston had the President of the North Carolina Association of Realtors and Dale Meyer of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners on his show to talk about the issue. IT was very informative

I admit I go back and forth on this issue, but while I agree we should have the right to decide in a referendum whether or not to get more revenue through a sales tax increase, property tax increase, or establishment of a .4% land transfer tax, I do tend to think the Land Transfer tax is not the way to go.

I do not like the idea of basing our revenue stream on a fluctuating housing market that would result in varying total amounts of money collected from year to year based on how few or how numerous the number of homes sold in that time period.

[dansdrive]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Guy

Anybody catch the discussion this morning on 680 AM WPTF about the Land Transfer Tax? Radio show host Jack Boston had the President of the North Carolina Association of Realtors and Dale Meyer of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners on his show to talk about the issue. IT was very informative

I admit I go back and forth on this issue, but while I agree we should have the right to decide in a referendum whether or not to get more revenue through a sales tax increase, property tax increase, or establishment of a .4% land transfer tax, I do tend to think the Land Transfer tax is not the way to go.

I do not like the idea of basing our revenue stream on a fluctuating housing market that would result in varying total amounts of money collected from year to year based on how few or how numerous the number of homes sold in that time period.

North Raleigh Guy - great comments!

Food for thought: Revenue is needed to maintain our growth, no quesiton about that. How about having a sliding scale to base the land sales tax.

Home <$100k 0.25%
Home >$100k to <$500k 0.5%
Home >$500k to <$1M 1.0%
Home >$1M to <$5M 1.5%
Home >$5M 2.0%

Why should everyone pay the same amount?

[mm34b]

Was there any mention about when the additional sales tax and/or land transfer tax might be presented to the voters of the Triangle's various counties?

[dansdrive]

Originally Posted by mm34b

Was there any mention about when the additional sales tax and/or land transfer tax might be presented to the voters of the Triangle's various counties?

What vote on a tax increase or not? When is the last time you voted for your State and Federal Gas Taxes, or properties taxes, or Sales tax to increase or not? We vote on individuals to make those decisions on our behalf.

[RaleighBoundGeek]

Dansdrive - my understanding of the referendum is not whether the "medicine" is to be applied, it's HOW the "medicine" is to be applied. Your choice - topically, orally, or that third method we're just not going to mention...

The more money needed part is apparently a foregone conclusion, it's now all about how they intend to extract it from us all....

[tee-tee]

Originally Posted by dansdrive

When is the last time you voted for your State and Federal Gas Taxes, or properties taxes, or Sales tax to increase or not?

In 2004.

I voted against a school system operating levy (property tax increase), against a library levy (a property tax increase), for a park system levy (ditto). We didn't get to vote on a sales tax since the county had already maxxed it out under state law - but previously I voted against it (1998). Probably also voted against several other taxes the past 10 yrs.

Obviously not the gas tax though.

You need to understand the issue better. This legislation was based on giving counties the option to put land transfer tax in front of the county voters, on a ballot. So it's a decision to put it to a vote, and whether to institute proposed tax, county-by-county.

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by dansdrive

What vote on a tax increase or not? When is the last time you voted for your State and Federal Gas Taxes, or properties taxes, or Sales tax to increase or not? We vote on individuals to make those decisions on our behalf.

When the General Assembly passed the bill last summer, there was a provision that prohibits individual counties from implementing either of the 2 new taxes without first getting local voter approval.

As of Aug. 30, 11 counties (Brunswick, Chatham, Gates, Henderson, Hoke, Macon, Moore, Pender, Polk, Swain and Union) had decided to put the 0.4 percent land transfer tax option on the November ballot. Nine counties (Columbus, Greene, Hertford, Lenoir, Martin, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson and Surry) were pursuing the sales tax option, and three counties (Davie, Harnett and Johnston) had decided to put both options in front of voters. In addition, four counties (Caswell, Duplin, Onslow and Pamlico) have already announced plans to pursue one of the options in next May’s primary election.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by dansdrive

North Raleigh Guy - great comments!

Food for thought: Revenue is needed to maintain our growth, no quesiton about that. How about having a sliding scale to base the land sales tax.

Home <$100k 0.25%
Home >$100k to <$500k 0.5%
Home >$500k to <$1M 1.0%
Home >$1M to <$5M 1.5%
Home >$5M 2.0%

Why should everyone pay the same amount?

So, you are saying that if you pay .4% on your $1,000,000 home and I pay .4% on my
$200,000 home we are paying the same amount?
Fascinating perspective!

I would propose that under that scenario you would pay 5 times what I would pay. Hardly "the same amount," IMO.