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
Yea, good idea. Don’t tax me, tax the man behind the tree…