Submitted to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee

March 24, 2008

By
Debra Chamberlain

My name is Debra Chamberlain, I reside in Groton, and I come before you today representing not just REALTORS® in Eastern CT and across the state, but property owners and prospective homebuyers.

Quite simply, we ask that you take no action on Raised Bill 5885. Instead we urge you to respect the current law as is, let it take its normal course, and let the municipal conveyance tax rate return to its historic level - pre-2003.

You will recall that the Legislature and Governor passed into law a termination date for the extra town tax on the sale of homes and other properties. That date is July 1, 2008 [CGS Section 12-494(a)]. At that time, the steep increases are scheduled to roll-back.

By entertaining Raised Bill 5885, the Finance Committee is in effect considering overturning existing law in order to re-impose an additional tax on home sellers. This bill would be singling out a small part of the population - property sellers - to pay for extra town aid benefiting other residents who are not so taxed.

Keep in mind who pays this expanded tax: people forced to sell at a loss, those forced to sell because their town property taxes are so high, members of the Armed Forces transferring to new assignments, growing families moving from a condominium to a larger home, and our ever-increasing aging population trading down to senior accommodations. They need - and deserve - every dollar of their sale's proceeds, yet this extra tax penalizes them for being good stewards of their property.

Also keep in mind that these folks have already paid the same town property taxes others complain about. For them, conveyance taxes are really a "double-dip" by the towns.

Our opponents claim that the tax has not hurt real estate sales, as if this should be the criteria for judging its merits. Whether the tax is fair or not, or whether it is regressive or not, apparently does not matter to them. Attached to my testimony are statements from four different home sellers vividly describing who gets hurt.

One is from an elderly Meriden widow, another from a New Britain immigrant couple from Ecuador, and the third from a Bristol condominium owner. The fourth statement is from a former Middletown home owner who experienced what we call a "short sale" - one in which the sales price is insufficient to cover the mortgage debt and selling expenses.

Your jobs as elected legislators are difficult, and REALTORS® respect that. Still, you have a choice to make - whether to continue the bonus money to town halls at the expense of a small segment of taxpayers or to keep faith with the public that is counting on this long overdue relief in a slumping real estate marketplace.

Thank you for your time in this very important matter. I'd be happy to answer any questions.