KINGSTON, NY – For the second time since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, Ulster County’s lawmakers will consider introducing a new tax for landowners selling their property.
David Donaldson, chairman of the Ulster County Legislature, has proposed a local law that provides a 0.1 percent tax payable by the seller at the time the property is sold. Co-legislators on the bill include lawmakers Laura Petit, D-Esopus, and John Parete, a registered Boiceville Democrat who ran for Republican membership.
Under the proposal, the county would impose a tax of $ 0.50 per $ 500, or 0.1 percent, on all property sales in the county. This means that the tax on a sale of $ 500,000 would be $ 500, while the tax on a sale of $ 750,000 would be $ 750. The income from the transfer tax would go to the county as opposed to mortgage tax, which is paid by the buyer at the time of purchase and goes to the municipality where the property is located.
Donaldson said the county could generate around $ 1.1 million based on home sales in 2020 from introducing the 0.1 percent transfer tax.
“We’re going to need revenue no matter how you look at it,” said Donaldson. He said the introduction of the transfer tax, which he said would save “a tiny bit” of the seller’s profits, would have less of an impact than an increase in property tax.
Last year Donaldson and lawmaker Lynn Archer proposed a 0.2 percent tax on all home sales above $ 500,000. This plan was drawn up by the sponsor under opposition from other lawmakers in the county.
Donaldson said he would like the money generated from the tax to be used to fund housing issues that plague the county. A recent housing study found that a third of the county’s homeowners and half of the county’s renters live in unaffordable dwellings and that a significant proportion of the county’s residents spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing.
“I want the money to be used on housing issues, whether it’s a fund to help people pay rent, or funds to encourage developers to build apartments, or someone in the planning department to help cities out their zoning laws supported, “said Donaldson. “My way of thinking is that housing costs may keep housing costs down.”
Donaldson said the latest proposal is likely to face an “uphill road” from both other county lawmakers and state law, which must give the county permission to introduce the new tax.
Minority leader Ken Ronk said GOP lawmakers rejected the previous proposal and expected them to oppose it too.
“We already tax people when they buy a house. We don’t have to tax Grandma and Grandpa if they move too,” said Ronk, R-Wallkill. “For many of these people, this is their retirement. That’s what they’ve built their lives for, and now we’re going to take our lives off the top.
Ronk also criticized the Democrats for finding the “easy way out” by introducing new taxes instead of working to cut spending.
“I think it was Ben Franklin who said there are only two things in this world that can be guaranteed: death and taxes. Well, the Democrats in the Ulster County caucus want to agree with him about one of them.” , he said. “I’d rather see the Chairman and others working with us to try and make savings everywhere rather than introduce a new tax.”
Donaldson said he expected lawmakers to begin debating the resolution and asking the state for permission to levy the new tax in March.