Street roots., September 28, 2012, Page 8, Image 8

Street roots
Sept. 28, 2012
R E U T E R S /R IC H A R D C L E M E N T
The national push to end real estate transfer taxes has one real estate agent crying foul
BY JOANNE ZUHL
S T A F F W R IT E R
he fact that the National Association
of Realtors wants to change the
Oregon Constitution doesn’t sit well
with Chris Bonner.
And she’s a member.
For more than two decades she’s been a
licensed real estate agent and a member of
the national organization and its local
affiliates, the Oregon Association of Realtors
and the Portland Metro Association of
Realtors.
And within that network, she says there
are members who are either unaware of
what the national association is trying to do,
or confused as to why its proposition,
Measure 79, is even a priority at all.
That National Association of Realtors is
the driving force behind the measure that
would rewrite the state constitution to
prohibit the state or any local government
from creating a real estate transfer tax or
fee. In fact, the association assessed its
members a fee to pay into the campaign.
The real estate transfer tax is a small
percentage assessment on the sale of a
T
house, and it is regularly a political football
with affordable housing advocates who see it
is a new, sustainable funding source for low-
income housing.
As it stands now, the Oregon State
Legislature has already established a ban on
such fees, requiring a vote by
representatives in Salem to overturn the
law. Washington County is the only county
in the state to have a transfer tax, 0.1
percent, and it would be grandfathered in.
Proponents of the measure say it’s a
financial burden in an already stressed
market. (They are organized as Protect
Oregon Homes.) The campaign says the fee
would be a double tax, on top of property
taxes, and would put new homes out of
reach for many families, and hurt families
who are already forced to sell their homes at
a loss.
So why is Chris Bonner telling people to
vote no?
Chris Bonner: I know it sounds ironic as
a Realtor to say that I’m encouraging people
to vote no on this, but there are a couple of
reasons why. I think it’s bad tax planning
from a national trade organization, the
National Association of Realtors, wanting to
pre-emptively and proactively put measures
on the table that stop municipalities from
being able to make that decision if
necessary to raise revenue. And the way it
is worded is confusing.
Joanne Zuhl: This would alter the
constitution. There’s already a prohibition.
Chris Bonner
policy to make it possible for trade
organizations to come in and throw
hundreds of thousands, if not a million,
dollars into a state to amend its constitution
when there’s no public groundswell that is
inviting them in. This is purely generated
C.B.: Yes - there’s already a prohibition.
This is taking it to the next step, saying that
you can never ever, as a state or a
municipality, decide that you want to use
this as a revenue-generating tool. It takes it
off the table for anyone to even consider. I
just think that’s a bad way to plan your tax
policy. I don’t think it’s appropriate. There
should citizens of Oregon decide that they
want to affect change in the constitution.
Not because a trade organization decides
that it would be good for their members —
they think — to do so.
See REALTORS, page 9
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