Letter to the Editor: Tax has positives

Mark Zimmerman’s guest column railing against the upcoming vote on a proposed land transfer tax [“The wrong tax and the wrong time,” March 13, 2008] paints this revenue-generating tool as regressive, unreliable, unfair and just plain awful. But to the average Carrborean, it just might be a pretty good thing. First, if you don’t own property, it won’t cost you a dime. And second, if you’re a homeowner and you don’t sell your home, it still won’t cost you a dime — more importantly, it might have a direct positive effect on our ever-upwardly-spiraling property taxes. Our current over-dependence on property taxes to finance government services has driven away more and more lower- and middle-income homeowners, lessening the diversity and character of our community. The land transfer tax offers the county a new revenue tool and promises a little tax relief to the average homeowner. If passed, the sale of a $300,000 house would incur a $1,200 tax bill. My guess is that this new cost would be shared among the seller, buyer and, if involved, real estate agent — perhaps that’s the part of this tax that Mr. Zimmerman and his industry group find really unfair.

Jack Nestor
Carrboro