Boston: Tax $2MM+ Real Estate Sales

[intercst]

… to fund affordable housing. Makes sense to me. The biggest thing putting people on the streets is rising housing costs.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/02/metro/transfer-fee-wi…

Wu’s proposal, which the City Council approved on Wednesday, would allow Boston to impose a fee of up to 2 percent on high-dollar real estate transactions, a cost that would be borne by the seller. The fee would be levied only on transactions of $2 million or more, with the first $2 million exempt from the fee. The city would pour that money into affordable housing and also provide property tax cuts for low-income seniors.

Where I live in WA State there’s a 1.7% real estate transfer tax from the first $1 and upward.

intercst

[pauleckler]

NJ has a McMansion tax paid by the seller in excess of some number. Maryland has a title transfer tax paid by the buyer.

These are ways to tax companies that transfer employees from place to place. And often by retirees downsizing or moving to lower cost areas.

Its nothing new. Source of revenue. And not much opposition from voters.