Tuesday, November 6, 2007, was a victory for property owners across the state.  On that date voters from 16 counties had the option of raising the real estate transfer tax by 4/10 of 1%.  If this new home tax would have passed home owners (and property owners) who sold their land in one of the 16 counties would have paid a total of $51,019,885 in new taxes. (Data source: N.C. Association of County Commissioners). In an era of uncertainty in the housing and real estate market the last thing our economy needs is a new tax on housing. This tax would have made it harder for first time home buyers to qualify for a mortgage. Paying a tax for the privilege of selling your home is a bad idea, and 79% of residents that went to the polls on November 6th agreed.

COUNTIES HOLDING LAND-TRANSFER TAX REFERENDA
6 November 2007

County	Votes Against	Votes For	Percent	Annual Tax Savings*
Brunswick	15,234	3,905	80-20	$14,041,348
Chatham	7,492	3,167	70-30	2,671,990
Davie	5,006	1,417	78 - 22	1,016,194
Graham	1,490	45	97 - 3	253,202
Harnett	6,458	507	93 - 7	1,877,684
Henderson	6,969	2,807	71 - 29	4,214,018
Hoke	2,021	359	85 - 15	828,736
Johnston	10,671	1,938	85 - 15	4,496,488
Macon	5,178	1,681	75 - 25	2,269,592
Moore	12,467	3,688	77 - 23	3,244,290
Pender	6,774	2,062	77 - 23	2,895,160
Rutherford	7,688	680	92 - 8	1,857,998
Swain	1,458	392	79 - 21	674,546
Union	16,725	3,432	83 - 17	9,621,680
Washington	1,629	651	71 - 29	928,395**
TOTAL:	101,517	27,216	79 - 21	$51,019,885

*Data source: N.C. Association of County Commissioners       

** Reflects 1% Transfer Tax on the ballot