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Administrative Office: 8757 Georgia Avenue, Suite 600 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301.590.2000 Fax: 301.590.2248 www.wdcar.org |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2004
Contact: Amy Ritsko-Warren, Director of Communications
301.590.8764
awarren@gcaar.com
Washington, DC—The Washington, DC Association of REALTORS® (WDCAR) won a reduction of real estate transfer and recordation taxes that were increased by the DC government in 2002. On the second reading of the District’s Budget Support Act, the District of Columbia Council approved a reduction from 1.5 to 1.1 percent for each of the city’s deed recordation and property transfer taxes.
In September 2002, the DC government discovered a significant gap between projected revenues and budgeted government operations. In response, the DC Council increased certain fees, fines and taxes, including the rate for recordation and transfer taxes. WDCAR negotiated an exemption for lower priced real estate and a "sunset" of the tax hike in the event that revenues exceeded an amount certain in any given year. Since that hike, the District’s real estate market has continued to surge, but the District government threatened to narrowly interpret the "sunset."
When the DC Office of the Chief Financial Officer recently determined that revenues far in excess of his projections had been collected from real estate transactions since the start of the current fiscal year, WDCAR aggressively pursued a tax rollback.
In response to hundreds of grassroots letters from real estate professionals and from homeowners, the Council voted to keep their promise that the tax hikes would be temporary, citing the impact to moderate income home buyers who have to come up with recordation taxes in cash at closing.
Members of the Council also acknowledged that taxes generally based on the number and size of real estate transactions have a tendency to be more volatile and unreliable than other tax schemes.
WDCAR is the voice for REALTORS® in Washington, DC. Representing more than 2,500 real estate professionals, WDCAR provides numerous services vital to its members’ daily business needs and works with lawmakers to ensure public policy that encourages home ownership.
