A recent letter to the editor in your newspaper praised some coastal counties for implementing the transfer tax as a solution to local budget issues. However, a closer look at the issue shows that the transfer tax — also known as the home tax — is not the answer.
The letter implied that a transfer tax would replace higher property taxes. That’s absolutely not true. Of the six counties in northeastern North Carolina who have levied the tax, two have the highest property tax burdens in the state. In fact, Dare and Currituck are ranked first and third respectively in terms of property tax burden among the state’s 100 counties.
The transfer tax is also an unreliable source of revenue because it relies on the volatile real estate market. Transfer tax revenues have fallen by as much as 53 percent over the last few years in some of the North Carolina counties that have the tax. Last year, Dare County commissioners were forced to cut capital reserve fund expenditures to adjust for a steep decline in land transfer tax revenue.
It’s impossible – and irresponsible – to build a budget for schools and other important programs and services around such an undependable source of revenue.
Further, it’s blatantly unfair to single out one segment of the population — specifically, people selling their property — to pay for infrastructure and other community needs that benefit everyone.
The bottom line is this — the transfer tax is a bad idea, unreliable and most certainly will not take the place of property taxes. On May 6, I encourage Orange County residents to vote against the transfer tax.
Mark Zimmerman
Chapel Hill