Tacky Tax

The NC Home Builders Association spent over half a million dollars lobbying the state legislature, arguing not to allow counties and municipalities should not have a choice in whether to levy a real estate transfer-tax. The builders lost that argument, and several counties have referendums on transfer-taxes included in their upcoming elections.

Transfer taxes are applied against every home sale, whether it is new or pre-existing. These taxes would develop millions of dollars in funding for much-needed schools and other infrastructure.

I'm glad the builders lobby lost their argument, and were not able to protect us from ourselves. The voters must choose whether transfer-taxes are the right vehicle for shoring up infrastructure funding.

I hope they make the right choice. I, for one, think transfer-taxes are a crappy idea. Local officials don't have the cojones to increase the property tax rate, so they'll support this instead. The fact is that if impact fees were where they should be, we wouldn't need transfer-taxes. If the purpose of these taxes is to build schools and roads caused by growth, then why not get it paid up front? Already, the lion's share of growth's cost is spread among taxpayers -- just look to Cary where the majority of development cost goes to debt which requires even more development to pay off. Think Amway.

I'm on my second house in Cary, and I know people who are on their third. When you move here, you pay your impact fee. Why should you pay it again when you move up to a nicer home (or are forced to move because of crummy schools in my case)? What about Grandma and Grandpa who contributed to the Cary tax base for 30 years and finally sell their home to move closer to the kids in Paducah, Kentucky? If you move here and pick up the lease on a rental property, you get off scot free.

Wake County just approved a $1B bond to pay for schools, and that is just enough money to keep our heads above water -- new schools are still designated as MYR.

A $1B bond is not enough. Our current property taxes are not enough, and a transfer-tax is still not enough to fund the kind of schools which the most affluent county in the state should have. Figure out what the real cost of growth is, adjust impact fees to require developers to pay their fair share, and shove the rest into the property tax rate. We don't need a new tax.