The state legislature is scheduled to enter a special session June 11th to extend the conveyance tax increase for two more years. This is the same legislature that created a gasoline tax that automatically increases itself every year regardless of the huge unexpected revenues the state has received from spiraling gas prices and which seeks to create a minimum wage that automatically increases itself regardless of the labor climate.
The conveyance tax is especially heinous here in East Hartford where the municipal portion is double that of most other towns and the luxury homes this tax is intended to target are all but non-existent. The victims of this tax are the least able to bear it. In fact as occurrences of negative equity become more common this tax is an increasing factor in foreclosures because an owner cannot afford to pay it in order to sell their home. The banks are exempt from this tax when they foreclose. What we don’t need in this environment of ever increasing living expenses and foreclosures is a tax system that discourages or makes it impossible for a struggling homeowner to get out of their situation.
In ‘06-’07 East Hartford alone confiscated over 1.1 million dollars in equity from property owners. The state confiscated a matching amount. That’s equivalent to the entire income of 42 East Hartford households.
In a time when East Hartford’s ability to compete for jobs and new residents is significantly hampered by higher than average property taxes, abysmal schools and a poor public image a conveyance tax twice that of neighboring towns is no benefit.
Learn more about the conveyance tax and lobby your representatives for relief here:
http://www.myhouse-mymoney.com/
Listen to CAR’s ad from the last time this issue came up in 2007 here:
Tags: Conveyance Tax, East Hartford
