Association Defeats Transfer Tax Proposed for High-End Properties

In a campaign involving volunteer and professional phone banks, online advertising, yard signs, direct mailings, and door-to-door work, the Beverly Hills/Greater Los Angeles Association of REALTORS® soundly defeated a proposed transfer tax increase on properties worth more than $1 million in Santa Monica. The proposed tax would have put the sole burden of funding the municipality’s affordable housing efforts on property owners. With a major Issues Mobilization Grant from NAR, as well as significant support from the California Association and other local associations, the 7,000-member association prevented the proposed tax hike from becoming law, setting the stage to defeat similar proposals in other California cities. “Our hope is that [legislators] will find a permanent funding source for affordable housing that will spread the burden throughout the greater community,” says James Litz, the association’s government affairs director. “When they do, we’ll support it.” Read more at the REALTOR® Party Success Stories page, https://realtorparty.realtor/news/success-stories.