Mayor Williams 2007 Budget To Increase Taxes On Housing

At a time when the real estate market is slowing down and homeowners are worried about a housing bubble, enter genius Democrats with a late-to-the-party TAX.

In Mayor Williams's new budget, he proposes an increase in the deed recordation and transfer taxes on residential real estate transactions from 1.1% to 1.5%. That works out to $2,000 in settlement costs for both the buyer and seller of a $500,000 house-- after they pay the federal government taxes on any capital gains due to increase housing values and after they pay their agent a sizable chunk for his cut. A family of two $60,000 income earners with children who can barely make the mortgage will take a real hit here.

And (drum roll please) Mayor Williams also hopes to snag $250,000 to establish a new "housing czar" job position. A task force recommended the position, but some members of the task force argued that the new position would duplicate responsibilities held by the city's Deputy Mayor for Economic Development.

We need affordable housing solutions, not new tax and spend bureaucracies. Affordable housing is a hot issue in D.C. But a candidate who doesn't rush to trample settled homeowners in order to help low-income renters/buyers could pick up some votes.