This might be a great Town Hall forum question for Democratic candidates. “Is there any problem you can’t fix with a new or higher tax?” I want a list, please, but I sense it would look like that redacted FDA document—a bunch of blank pages. While true, Dems do believe this; they don’t want to admit it publicly.
The government spent a lot of taxdollars to ‘cure’ COVID, and that cure was worse than doing nothing. There ought to be a lesson in that, but no one seems to have learned it, at least not in Massachusetts (Taxachusetts, Massghanistan). They keep electing candidates who think every problem can be solved with another tax.
Governor Maura Healey’s $4 billion housing bond bill, the state’s biggest-ever investment in its residential stock, includes a provision allowing cities to impose a transfer fee of 0.5% to 2% on property sales exceeding $1 million. The revenue generated would go toward affordable housing projects.
Bloomberg’s headline uses the term Mansion Tax. Have they been to Massachusetts? Peabody, MA, has an excellent multifamily rental for sale for $1.25 mil. A four-bedroom, three-bath, 2300-square-foot home can cost more than a million.
In some towns, you can’t get a three-bedroom two, two-bath ranch for less. Mansions? Seriously?
Supporters, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and leaders of more than 15 other municipalities, see the transfer fee as a critical tool to address a growing shortage of affordable housing. State Housing Secretary Edward Augustus says Massachusetts needs 200,000 more homes to keep pace with population growth.
“This policy is a win for local governments, but most importantly it is a win for renters and homeowners who have otherwise been priced out,” Augustus said in an e-mailed statement.
Democrats are also convinced that the tax will produce something other than well-fed camp followers once collected. It also makes Mass less desirable, a place to live and invest for people who can barely afford that 2300 square foot home.
Critics argue that the additional tax would burden commercial property developers already facing high vacancy rates, particularly in office buildings, and could lead to a decrease in overall real-estate tax revenue. Vacancy rates for office space are on the rise in Boston, Cambridge and surrounding suburbs as remote work trends persist. According to Colliers’ first-quarter market analysis, occupancy in Boston’s office market has hit its lowest point since 2010.
Oh, look – a solution!
COVID killed office space leasing, which Bidenomics made worse. Massachusetts’s State-of-emergency Alien Invasion problem is at the heart of the affordable housing rants (or is it the million-dollar 2300 sqft housing problem)? Taxpayers are already paying to put the invaders up in whatever space the state can find (it has even asked residents to house Biden’s invading army in their own homes.
If Developers are unhappy, they should convince the state to use the Mansion tax to rent out the empty office space or, here’s an idea: put them on planes and send them to a country that speaks their language and honors their customs. That would cost a lot less, reduce chaos, and you wouldn’t need a new tax.
But we wouldn’t want any of that, would we?
