Deed Transfer Tax-planks

== 2001 pledge ==
* The Deed Transfer Tax, out of all the taxes, makes the top priority for quick elimination. 
* Pittsburgh should cut its Deed-Transfer Tax to zero. 
=== Elminate, not raise, the deed-transfer tax.===
The deed transfer tax locks people in their homes. We want people to be free to move from home to home within the city. The deed transfer tax curtails freedoms.
The deed transfer tax hits against the little guys, the poor, the newest home owners. We want hard-working people to save and get into their first new home, easily. A home makes for a great investment for most. Home owners, generally, make better neighbors. We want to encourage home ownership among families and individuals.
I'm also a flaming idiot who wants to drive the city further into bankruptcy --- oh where will I either find another couple million in revenue or a couple of million in cuts this year and each and every year going forward. I love being a liberterian as that means I never have to actually make a decision besides which subject I would like to bitch and moan about.
== The deed transfer tax is an easy tax for corporations to sidestep and avoid. ==
Bigger buildings, warehouses, industrial spots, flex spaces, and all sorts of commercial investments from pizza shops to printing shops become stuck.
The deed transfer tax hits hardest as the property changes hands and comes as an up-front fee. This fee can't be incorporated into monthly payments. This is like points at closing.
If one saves for a few years and has, for example, $5,000, in the bank to put into a new home as a down payment. That payment might help to qualify a buyer, based on credit ratings and bank decisions, obtain a house in the $100,000 price range. Then comes the $4,000 deed transfer tax subtraction. With the half-point increase the buyer has $3,000 for a down payment. With so little of a down-payment, the buyer might only qualify for a house in the $70,000 price range. 
== Cut the deed-transfer tax. ==
In 2001, as I campaigned for mayor, I said that the first tax that should be cut is the deed-transfer tax. So, in 2004, the city raises the deed-transfer tax. The city's leadership is going in exactly the wrong direction.
== ==
* Cut the deed-transfer tax to 0.
== In Deleware, they waive the deed-transfer tax for new home buyers.==
Others have seen the light. Others do the right thing. Pittsburgh isn't Willmington.
== ==
In Cranberry, the deed-transfer tax is 2%. In the city of Pittsburgh, the deed transfer tax is 4%.
====November 2004: Deed Transfer Tax to jump from 1.5 to 2 percent ====
Mayor Tom Murphy proposed an increase in the deed transfer taxes by 0.5 percent for 2005. The tax jumped from 1.5 to 2 percent. This Murphy proposed tax increase came in the second budget plan, after the first was rejected by the oversight board. In the second plan, the deed-transfer tax joined with new gambling income for 2007. The PG reported that the deed transfer taxes and gambling incomes are estimated to bring in $20 million in new revenues by 2007. The PG did not report how much was to come only from the deed transfer tax.
The increase isn't a half of a percent for consumer. The half-percent taxe increase is huge when the total tax was 1.5%. 
To purchase a $100,000 house, the deed transfer tax was $1,500. Now the tax will be $2,000. The half-percent went to $500 for the consumer. An increase from $1,500 to $2,000 is 33%.
====Grown the city. Don't just grow the city's budget.====
A deed-transfer tax is misery to the poor neighborhoods. Tunnel vision. Can't see the big picture. People should be screaming bloody murder. It is harder to go from rental to ownership. 
* 69% home-ownership rate in USA. Soon it will be 70%.
* In Pittsburgh we'll have a decline in home ownership.
====The forclosure rate is high in the county.====
More are buying property from afar. They live in Florida, Nevada, elsewhere. They buy the house with research over the internet. Get a local real estate agent. They have the cash. Money is their primary object.
Category: Platform_Planks_from_Mark_Rauterkus