How many of you are aware of the issue of a proposed new 2% transfer tax in Millerton, Northeast on all Real Estate transactions ?- the proposal has been raised and we think it will be a referendum on the ballot in town this November. The tax is to be paid by the buyer of Real Estate in Millerton, Northeast.
This proposal needs to be stopped in it's tracks no matter how good the intentions on the surface may sound. A tax is a tax is a tax.
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3 comments:
Not all taxes are bad. For instance, Long Island towns that have used a dedicated transfer tax to preserve agriculture and conserve land and all thankful for it.
If we don't spend the money to peserve our rural heritage (and we need to raise that money first, of course), then soon we will end up like Wingdale or Dover, or the direction that Amenia is headed.
You must be kidding- you believe that Long Island is happy with a transfer tax of 2%- who does that help but the upper end buyer- all it does is keep folks with less money out of the market and keep the same folks out of the area-Was that the plan ??
If any area wishes to preserve it's agricultural land it can do so by donating their development rights as we do ( Dutchess Land Conservancy, Columbia Land Conservancy).
Let us look at our area at this time- we have some 280 conservancy easments in a 5 town radius preserving some 25,000 acres. Not bad for starters-That equates to the entire town of Pine Plains and half the town of Northeast. This is a direct result of people wishing to give up development rights ( keeping space open) and providing a tax incentive to the land owner. The problem we have is the true farmer can't afford to do so- the reason is the way the system is set up the farmer in giving up his rights gets a tax right off which he does not need( not many do who have little or no income).
Transfers taxes do not assist us in any way other than adding a new tax and further closing cost to the sale.The same outcome can be accomplished by putting peer pressure on those that buy large parcels to place their land in a conservancy protecting development rights.
NY State already has the distinction of being the highest closing cost state in the country. Why do you think we are loosing so many folks to the south and other parts of the world- It is just to expensive to live here-
Let us look at an example of the transfers tax in action- Red Hook recently put the tax in place and as a result the Town lost a potential buyer. A buyer was to buy a property in Red Hook ( for 1 million plus)and discovered he was responcible for a 2% transfer tax plus a 1% mansion tax ( oh yes NY charges a 1% tax on properties of 1 million and more). The total to him was in excess of $30,000- guess where he is now buying- you got it Ct. Ny looses again.
Donating a conservation easement just doesn't cut it, from a preservation standpoint. It perserves your own land (which you weren't going to develop, anyway), but nobody else's... that hardly gets the preservation job done. I already have a preservation easement on my 37 acre farm in Millerton. Now, how do I preserve all of the environmentally important, scenic, and agriculturally valuable land beyond my borders? Peer pressure on my neighbors is wishful thinking... it didn't work in Amenia. Sounds like a 2% tax would be a good idea.
I moved from Amenia to Millerton precisely because Amenia is unconcerned with preserving its agricultural heritage. Amenia is turning into a suburb. Have you never noticed that the tax rates in suburbs are much, much, much higher than in country villages that are primarily agricultural? New schools, fire departments, police, infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure that costs money 365 days per year. In the end, the year-round taxes in suburban areas go up by much more than a one-time 2% sales tax. The 2% sales is cheaper, in the long run, than rampant development.
If the 2% tax were used to buy agricultural easements, to preserve farming, then the value of land that is subject to those easements would actually be affordable for a farmer to buy. As it is, no new farmer can buy land here... it is too expensive. Without the government buying an agricultural easement (thereby benefiting the existing owner and lowering the price for a future buyer), the only entity that can afford to buy land is a speculator or a developer. Yuck.
Commenter number 2: you can't have it both ways by saying that a preservation tax benefits the wealthy, but then also saying that a 2% tax scared away a wealthy buyer, who went to CT, instead. Part of the reason that CT attracts buyers is because they have already made preservation an economic priority. You just need to drive over the state border and you can immediately sense it.
Finally, I have actually spoken to 5 people who live on Long Island. None of them has complained.
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