Home owners AND car buyers may get screwed

Bills now being considered in the North Carolina General Assembly would force people selling their home to pay a 1% sales tax. For example, if you own a $200,000 home, you would be forced to pay $2,000 to the government when you sold your home.

Of course, if I am selling a home, I will charge an extra 1% minimum to cover the cost of the tax. That does not make it an easy sell for me. I am never an advocate of higher taxes. When is enough ENOUGH? Why only punish home owners? Why rip off the equity I worked my ass off to pay for so that the government can suck it from me? Why make houses 1% more expensive for all home buyers?

I am baffled as to why the NC Legislature continues to look for ways to screw over the people in this state. We have seen gross negligence, corruption, and waste, yet instead of just cutting out the waste and fraud, they look for ways to suck more money from honest, hard working citizens.

I don't buy every argument against this proposed tax, such as that it is regressive. 1% is 1% regardless of who you are. The richer with more valuable homes would get hit with a higher tax assessment. Sure, people who make money put forth a larger percentage of their income towards their home purchase, but it is at least no more percentage wise than a wealthy individual will pay.

None the less, 1% that could be used as equity to put towards my next purchase getting siphoned off for government use is just plain immoral. Renters pay nothing. I already pay property tax.

There is a web site on the topic for more info.

UPDATE:

According to a WMPM news story, the state wants to raise the 3% sales tax on new cars to 6.75%. In the bill, however, I don't see a provision for a 6.75% tax rate. This is, however, the same bill that will hose home sellers with an excise tax on all real property transfers, as described earlier.

An obvious problem is that the state has continuously raided the highway trust fund for use in the general fund in years past. The state never replenished that fund when there was a surplus. Now, the senate bill aims to replenish and perpetually fund the highway trust fund with car sales taxes.

The bill takes out the deduction on the retail value of the trade in of another car. If the sales price of a new car is $25,000 and your trade in value on your old car is $10,000, you are actually paying $10,000 towards the value of the new car with your old one. However, you would be taxed on the full $25,000 rather than the $15,000 differential.

The bill also provides for a $300 tax on a certificate of title is your previous title was in another state for at least 90 days. Why? It's just another way of squeezing cash out of the average person.