Press Release: 2024-05-03

MA’s new tax on home sales

Governor Maura Healey recently filed a five-year, $4.1 billion bond bill called the Affordable Homes Act. Tucked away in this bill is a major policy change that would establish a local option “real estate transfer fee” (tax) of between .5% to 2%, on the portion of the sale over $1 million or the county median home sales price (whichever is greater.) In other words, they are looking for more ways to nickel and dime you because they can’t seem to spend within the means of current tax collections.

 

 

They say the money would then go to support affordable housing, but with administrative overhead growing by the day and costly regulations and labor policies, it’s doubtful we will see any noticeable benefit. There’s also no language in the bill that would call for the funds to be spent on NEW housing.

 

TAKE ACTION -  TELL MAURA HEALEY “NO” TO NEW TAXES ON HOME SALES: https://www.votervoice.net/MASSFISCAL/campaigns/114498/respond

 

If you’re thinking that this tax would never affect you because your home value doesn’t meet the threshold, just look at how much property values have appreciated over the last ten years!

 

How long do you think it will take for you to fall under the new tax scheme?

 

It’s predicted that this new tax might be passed onto the buyer, driving prices up even more for single family homes, renters, and commercial properties alike. Since the real estate market tends to fluctuate with economic downturns, it will also be creating an unstable source of revenue they are looking to rely on, which we can assume means they will lower the price threshold for the tax in the future.

 

We all want an affordable Massachusetts, but putting a new tax on real estate sales won’t get us there and will actually exacerbate the problem. Studies have shown that when a real estate transfer tax is implemented, the number of transactions goes down.

This bill is queued up to be voted on in the legislature and they need to hear from you. Please Contact your legislators to tell them not to raise taxes on some home sales: https://www.votervoice.net/MASSFISCAL/campaigns/114498/respond

 

-MassFiscal Team

 

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