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Endorsement Letters: Transfer Tax

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Staff

For the transfer tax

With Orange County growing so fast, it seems we need new schools every time we turn around. Somehow we have to pay for educating these new children, who are our future. Counties have very few options in paying for schools. Mostly, they rely on the property tax. Every property owner has to pay this tax every year whether or not they are contributing to the growth.

With the option of the land transfer tax, part of the burden for new schools would be born by those buying and selling property, residential and commercial. Much of that activity is directly tied to growth. A small tax on sales will help reduce dependence on the property tax.

Opposition to the transfer tax is organized by real estate interests outside Orange County that have contributed buckets of money.

Support for the proposition is from real Orange County citizens, including many current and former local officials who have struggled with these questions.

I don’t want outsiders telling me how we should fund our schools. I’m voting FOR the land transfer tax and urge you to as well.

Susan W. Spalt
Carrboro

Worth supporting

I am writing in support of both the land transfer tax being proposed by the Orange County Board of Commissioners and the candidacy of Bernadette Pelissier for Orange County commissioner at-large.
The transfer tax will enable property owners to enjoy increases in their property value as long as they own it without having to pay additional yearly property taxes, and payment of the tax is delayed until the property is sold, when the owner will receive revenue. The Citizens for a Better Orange County, a group led by local realtor Mark Zimmerman, argues that the tax unfairly targets senior citizens and low-income residents. Contrary to their argument, this tax will provide needed relief to these two groups who are more likely to be on fixed or non-discretionary incomes. Allowing the county to mitigate necessary increases in the yearly ad valorem property taxes, the transfer tax will provide necessary relief to these citizens during these economically challenging times. The slick, well-financed effort to defeat the transfer tax is being led by realtors who are more interested in protecting their commissions than in helping the citizens of Orange County.

Bernadette has demonstrated an interest in serving the citizens of Orange County over many years. She has served on the board of OWASA, including a stint as its chair. She is currently on the Orange County Planning Board and Commission for the Environment and has served Orange County well as one of its representatives to the Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC), which is developing a plan for regional transit. She has served as chair of the Orange Chatham Sierra Club and has been on the Shaping Orange County Future Task Force, the Carolina North Leadership Advisory Committee and the Community Leadership Collaboration. Bernadette is a strong supporter of local economic growth, educational resources for all individuals, affordable housing for all income levels, protection of our environment and growth supported by our available water resources. She is a passionate and well-spoken advocate for these and many other issues.

Please join me in both approving the transfer tax, allowing Orange County to grow while minimizing the burden of growth on our senior and low-income citizens, and in allowing Bernadette Pelissier to continue her years of service to the citizens of Orange County by supporting her for commissioner-at-large.

George J. Cianciolo
Chapel Hill

For transfer tax

No one likes to pay taxes. Our elected officials have to do more to balance residential, commercial and office development and aim for revenue-positive development. And we all need to do a better job deciding between “must haves” and “nice to have.”

At the same time, it’s inevitable, given what the schools and other public services need, that additional revenues are required. The choice before us is not “tax or no tax,” but which tax. Opposition to the transfer tax will not stop or slow growth. Instead, we will get deteriorating public services and higher property taxes and/or sales taxes. From a commercial and economic development viewpoint, those are worse forms of taxation. With the reality now of higher prices and economic slowdown, both cut into consumer spending. And property tax rates are something that companies look at when making decisions about relocating to Orange County. The transfer tax is also the best from an equity standpoint. Because it is paid out of the proceeds of a house sale and not out of paychecks and pensions, it is the tax with the least impact on low-wage earners, the poor and those with fixed incomes.

For once, commercial interests, social justice and plain old common sense say the same thing: a transfer tax is the better choice.

Phyllis Pomerantz
Chapel Hill

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