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Ashe County Makes Case For Transfer Tax

Ron Fitzwater writes at MountainTimes.com:

County Officials Make Case for Land Transfer Tax

Ashe County Board of Commissioners Chairman Richard Blackburn calls the tax "a hard sell" but something that is badly needed for the county to meet the capital needs for projects
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"We want to avoid levying additional property or sales taxes, but we need some source of revenue other than property taxes and this [LTT] is a possibility. Why would we look at this as a possibility? Because, last year, 80 percent of the land transfers in the county were for persons coming in, now you can assume that the seller of the property is going to add the LTT into the sale of the property because that is how consumerism works. Also last year, seven percent of the sales were by speculators leaving only ten percent of sellers being county residents and three percent was gifted property and no LTT would apply. Now I'm not trying to sound anti-newcomer, because we are not, why not let them help pay for some of the infrastructure they benefit from if they like being up here?" Blackburn asked.

What Have You Done With the Garden?

"What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?"

Chel White is a brilliant independent short filmmaker, whose work is very poetic. Wind is a montage of motion controlled time-lapse photography of the earth and weather. Set to a poem by Antonio Machado, White combines dramatic music and breathtaking visuals in this moving piece. It is hard to forget White's visual answer to the poet's question, "What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?" Narrated by Alec Baldwin.

See this and 11 other great short films at the website of The Alliance for Climate Protection including tips and tools for taking action.

Ashe County Joins the Fray

Ashe County Commissioners have decided to put the Transfer Tax to a referendum on May 6th according to the Jefferson Post:

The commissioners chose the land transfer tax because they said it would provide the most money with the least impact on local residents.

Commissioner Larry Rhodes said the board looked long and hard at these choices, and noted that while sales tax is paid every day, a land transfer tax is a one-time tax on a property sale. He said 80% of recent property sales are to second homeowners from outside Ashe County.

Chairman Blackburn added that of the remaining 20% of property sales, 7% are by speculators, 10% by locals, and 3% are gifts or inherited transfers, which would not be impacted by the land transfer tax.

Realtors at the Gates

NC Realtor astroturf popped up yesterday in Gates County:

Unlike previous similar groups in other counties where the "Custodian of Books" is William DePriest of the NC Association of Realtors (NCAR) in Greensboro with a local Treasurer signing, in this case there is no pretense of a local organization. William DePriest of NCAR is both the Treasurer and Custodian of Books for "Gates County Citizens Against Higher Taxes".

Code Orange

They're baaaack, realtor astroturf in Orange County:

As with the previous similar groups in other counties, the "Custodian of Books" is William DePriest of the NC Association of Realtors (NCAR) in Greensboro with a local Treasurer signing. In this case it's Tom Holt a Chapel Hill attorney who is an "associate" of the Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors.

Do The Math

Here's a little math problem to put things in perspective. If a home is sold for $250,000 the realtor commission is 6% or $15,000. A transfer tax of 0.4% would be $1,000 or 1/15th of the realtor fee. If that home appreciates in value, say 5% every year, after 30 years the home will have a value of $1,029,034. If the same home is sold every 5 years, with 6% going to realtors every time, the total amount spent on realtor commissions over 30 years will be $234,224 for a house that originally sold for $250,000.

Over the same period just $15,615 would represent the amount going to a transfer tax of 0.4%. Over the 30 year history of the house 23% of the final value of the house will have gone to realtors while just 1.5% would have gone towards transfer tax for public services essential to maintaining the value of a home. Or to put it another way, Over the 30 year history of the house 94% of the original value of the house will have gone to realtors while just 6% would have gone towards transfer tax for public services essential to maintaining and increasing the value of a home, over 30 years.