Chapel Hill NC Home Blog

Although many opposed the Orange County Land Transfer Tax, this is the only option voters will get to choose from this May. The Orange County commissioners voted unanimously last night to put the tax hike on the May 6th ballot.

What exactly is a land-transfer tax?  It’s a tax that’s paid when a property owner sells a home, property or land to another party.  The monies raised from this land transfer tax would most likely be used for capital projects on schools and parks. 

If this tax is not passed, real estate property taxes will most likely go up.  An increase in property taxes obviously affects all homeowners but those hardest hit would be retirees or those living on fixed incomes.

The bottom line is there is no good answer.  Nobody wants to pay any more taxes than we already do but additional funds are needed to provide for the necessary infrastructure to serve our residents.  

The parties opposed to this tax feel it would stifle growth.  Many feel the timing of this tax is not good based on our slowing economy in addition to a less than ideal housing market.   

An increase in sales tax, a land transfer tax and/or an increase in property tax all add to additional expenses for every resident living in Orange County.  There will always be those in favor and those in opposition to any tax increase.  Unfortunately tax increases are inevitable. We just have to agree upon which tax will help us most and hurt us least.