Chatham County has long abandoned the quest to be a reasonably taxed county. They have enacted a $2900 per new home impact fee (to run off low income home buyers) and are now pushing for a land-transfer tax. This is addition to moratoriums and countless cries to stop ALL development adjacent to roads in the county to protect the “view” thereby diminishing the value of property for land owners adjacent to roads.
But this quote from WRAL really goes to show how poorly some elected officials understand taxation and home buying.
“What is 0.4 percent of $100,000? It’s $400. If $400 is going to
stop you from buying a house, you don’t need to buy a house,”
Commissioner Patrick Barnes said.
Chatham County officials said
they expect a close vote next Tuesday, but if the transfer tax fails,
they vowed to continue putting it on the ballot until it passes.
In other words, they don’t really care what the citizens have to say and if they had the power, they’d simply pass the tax increase. Attention Commissioner Barnes, the $400 is paid by the seller, but it’s nice to know that you understand it will be passed along to the purchaser in addition to the $2900 you also support and the $200 they will already pay per $100k. And where are the $100k homes in Chatham???
