homebuilders

There's been a marked uptick in NC Realtor and Homebuilder attempts to derail the local transfer tax option as they make a final attempt to secure the low ground. Attacking Chris Fitzsimon in radio ads yesterday, a new round of melodramatic TV ads and a full page ad in today's paper attacking everybody who is not feeding at the bottom with them.

Read more below the fold....

Today's N&O reports Chatham County is trying to get authorization to add a land transfer tax to help pay for growth. Most growing counties in the state are wanting some kind of impact/transfer tax/fee to help handle the costs associated with growth.

What I find interesting, but no longer surprising, is how the realtors and homebuilders are always right on top of things talking about how much these new fees and taxes will hurt "working families," etc.

Imposing taxes on new and existing homes will hurt working families by making homes less affordable," said Tim Kent, executive vice president of the Realtors Association.

How come we don't hear cries about this from groups who actually care about affordable housing. Nobody from Habitat ever speaks up. Nobody from the other groups speaks up. I guess they sit back and let the homebuilders and realtors go on with their own tireless fight for the working class. After all builders and realtors always voluntary include affordable housing in their big new subdivisions, don't they? If cities didn't have affordable housing mandates in place, the developers would still build a certain proportion of affordable housing out of the goodness of their hearts, right?