One Percent to Sell Your Home
By Charles TurnerThe title sounds like an ad for a discount brokerage. It is not.
The House Revenue Committee will hold hearings on HB 3052 and HB 3258 on Monday, April 9 at 1 pm in Hearing Room A of the State Capitol, 900 Court Street NE, Salem. Both bills would allow for the creation of a real estate transfer tax. HB 3052 would impose a 1% real estate transfer tax on all transfers of real property. The money generated would go to the State of Oregon. HB 3258 would authorize counties that lose federal timber payments to impose their own real estate transfer tax. No percentage is given in the bill.
Oregon.gov goes on to explain:
Imposes real estate transfer tax on transfers of real property. Exempts certain transactions from tax. Directs county recording officers to collect tax. Provides special rules for collection of tax on transfers of manufactured structures and floating homes. Establishes exemptions from tax. Establishes Shared Services Fund. Continuously appropriates moneys in fund to Oregon Department of Administrative Services for distribution. Applies to real estate transfers occurring on or after January 1, 2008.
Is the bill for the greater good or is an embattled but not beaten real estate market going to recoil? Or both?I’m not finding much pro or con on the Internet.
Fun(?) note: HB 3052 shares the same name as the 1999 medical marijuana bill.
It’s worth noting that Section 24a is blank. That’s the place that identifies how the money will be spent.
I think a lot of folks would hope that such a tax would be spent on providing housing to low-income folks, especially first-time home-buyer programs.
I’m also surprised that there’s not a low-level exemption… say, the first $100,000 in value or something.
Quick, let’s throw some water on the….of wait, the fire is out. Well, we have this bucket of water…maybe we can cool down the smoldering embers.
Brilliant.
Looking forward to the glut this coming fall if this passes.
I think a lot of folks would hope that such a tax would be spent on providing housing to low-income folks, especially first-time home-buyer programs.
But doesn’t it say above that this proposed tax is to replace lost federal timber payments in certain counties that became dependent on these payments? Probably in places like that it’s going to go to primarily to school funding. Some of these timber producing counties were getting tens of millions of dollars in federal timber payments which has suddenly dissappeared so now they’re scrambling for ways to make up the shortfall. I’m neutral on this particular solution, however a one-time tax at sale time is better than an ongoing property tax that you continue to pay every year.
As an aside, I would suggest that the government pumping more money into the system is not the way to help low-income, first-time-homebuyers. Or to put it another way: If the government were to help first time buyers buy overpriced homes doesn’t that just put those first time buyers at risk? Pumping in more money just keeps those houses overpriced. Remove the gravy train and houses will adjust downward and become more affordable – prices will come back into balance with income. And the gravy train in this case isn’t just the goverment money, it’s also the crazy subprime and alt-A money that’s been given out to anyone who can fog a mirror – fortunately, much of that has gone away or is going away.
The fact is that most of people now can’t afford to buy if you compare median incomes with median house prices. So most people are “low income” when compared to home prices.
Let’s see. Add a tax so seller’s will raise their prices to cover the additional expense. Then, let’s assume, [although it doesn't say] the intent of a portion of the tax is to provide affordable housing, how does this make sense? Hopefully when I go to Salem on April 9th at 1:00pm they can explain this to me because I am a somewhat intelligent person and this just doesn’t compute! Looks to me like a way to fill the trough with a never ending source of funds.
A closer reading shows that it’s not necessarily going to be used for the same things that the lost federal timber payments were used for. In that case I’d definitely be opposed.
Any way you slice it, tax is tax and I’m not for it.
Any comedian that needs to read off a script shouldn’t be given stage time.
This IS funny:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HANTJ1JlNbc
This is not (since it is not fiction):
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/business/2007/04/28/feyerick.home.auction.shocker.cnn
What do you think of this comedian’s take on realtors?
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