Transfer Tax, Moore County

[source: Dan Besse, Conservation Council of NC]
Transfer tax referenda: Despite a full-court press lobbying effort by the realtor/developer lobby, the N.C. General Assembly this year voted to allow counties to choose whether to adopt an increase in the land transfer tax. On Tuesday, 16 counties (from Swain in the western mountains to Brunswick on the coast) will decide whether to take advantage of that opportunity. The development lobby has poured heavy cash (more than $400,000) into fighting those local referenda in counties around the state.

(According to Chris Fitzsimon of N.C. Policy Watch, supposedly "local" opposition groups are local fronts for the N.C. Homebuilders Association and the N.C. Association of Realtors, through hosting their nearly identical websites and financially underwriting the "local" committees.)

Supporters of the land transfer tax argue that it provides a fair way to require new development to pay its share of the costs of growth at the local government level.

The outcomes of these tax referenda will tell us something about both public attitudes toward booming development in fast-growth areas, and the effectiveness of development lobby rhetoric in swaying public perceptions in these debates.