Republican senator plans to introduce bill to end NJ’s realty transfer fees
TRENTON — One day after Gov. Chris Christie said he would abolish reality transfer fees in New Jersey if given the chance, a fellow Republican responded with a bill seeking to do just that.
State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington) said today she will soon introduce legislation that would repeal the fees that residents have to pay when selling a home here.
“When you sell your home in New Jersey, you’re getting whacked by this arbitrary tax, and that’s wrong,” Allen said. “This initiative will help struggling homeowners, including those who might be facing short sales or foreclosures. It will save property owners across this state a burden of thousands of dollars, which particularly hurts those who have lost equity in their homes due to the economic recession.”
Allen plans to introduce the bill April 28. (Johnson/Star-Ledger)
Isn’t there also a ‘millionaire’s tax’ on the sale of homes over 1m?
#1, yes – there is a millionaire’s tax of 1% of the total to be paid by the buyer. The transfer tax is paid by the seller. Here’s the breakdown.
https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/lpt/rtffaqs.shtml
The “fee” was established in 1968 to fund the documentation of real estate transactions. When homes were appreciating in value, the state raised the tax rate. Now, after coming off a debilitating crash of home values, the time to end this tax – or at very minimum – reduce the fee to reflect the actual cost of recording transactions, has come.
Thanks. In 1968 a million was a lot of money.
It should be repealed or changed to 5m to adjust for inflation.
(of course the federal govt still dings you on the sale of a home after ‘allowing’ 250k for singles or 500k for married as a ‘profit’, while disregarding inflation.
THAT should be indexed for inflation, but its not.
AMT also not indexed for inflation, feds need a “fix” every year to keep it from catching too many middle class families, but the number of households paying the AMT continues to creep up.