Home Equity Theft Prevention Act!

I generally try to avoid commenting on politics here but I am making an exception in this case, primarily because it is real estate related.

Currently, Arizona does not have a real estate transfer tax (RETT). But the state legislature has considered passing laws to impose the tax in the past. There are already 35 states in which home sellers are required pay a tax when they sell a home, land, or commercial real estate. Think of it as sales tax on any real estate sold but instead of being paid by the buyer it is paid by the seller.

Tax rates on real estate sales in other states range from 0.1% to 2.2%. On a $200,000 home sale that would be $200 to $2,000 out of your pocket. What’s worse is that many of these taxes don’t consider any loan principal you might owe and you pay the tax based on the full sales price of the home. Hardly, fair to say the least.

Proposition 100 , also known as the Protect Our Homes Act, is an Initiative that, if passed, would prohibit the state government from charging any new tax on the sale or transfer of real property in Arizona and it is on this year’s ballot.

You might be saying, “Don’t I already pay property taxes?” And the answer is, if you own real estate in Arizona you do. A RETT would be a new tax and it would be in addition to property taxes you already pay. And if that isn’t double taxation I don’t know what is.

When you go to the polls on Nov. 8th remember a “Yes” vote on Proposition 100 would prevent the Arizona State Legislature from passing any future taxes on the sale of real estate.