AMHERST - An Amherst man is petitioning town council, urging it to reconsider its decision to increase the deed transfer tax.
"It's too late for my situation, but if it goes through it's going to have quite an impact on home buyers," said Greg Doucette, who hopes to present his petition to council during its June session on Monday. "The tax increase is not fair."
When the town brought down its 2009-10 operation budget a couple of weeks ago it announced plans to increase the deed transfer tax by 150 per cent from .05 per cent to 1.25 per cent.
Doucette understands the town needs to increase its revenues, but he thinks there has to be another way.
"I know they need to get more revenue to get more amenities to make the town more competitive, but this particular method of doing that puts the burden on a small number of people in town," said Doucette, whose online petition can be accessed at www.gregdoucette.ca.
In his case, the deed transfer tax on the home he's purchasing will go from $890 to $2,200.
Town council is expected to bring increased deed transfer tax to second reading at Monday's meeting, meaning if it's passed it could be implemented in a couple of weeks.
Realtor Kathy Morash from Coldwell Banker said the pending change has home buyers a little worried and has some rushing their purchases.
"I've got two closings that are closing Monday instead of a few weeks later in order to avoid it," she said. "It's going to have a big impact. It's too much, too fast."
With housing markets not in their best shape thanks to the recession, Morash feels this is not going to help and it could make it even more difficult for first-time homebuyers. Morash said first-time homebuyers are already scraping together their five per cent, now they're going to take another hit.
Mayor Robert Small understands there is some opposition, but the deed transfer tax in Amherst is still lower than the Municipality of Cumberland, which is at 1.5 per cent, and is lower than many other towns in Nova Scotia.
"The main reason we're doing it is to identify a source of funds that not every householder in Amherst has to cover the cost for," the mayor said, adding he doesn't feel it will impact housing development. "There are some that have a very low tax, but the majority are operating at a higher tax than us."
Doucette said the town shouldn't be looking at the deed tranfer tax in Halifax. Instead it should be looking at those municipalities the town is in competition with, such as Sackville and Moncton, where the tax is .25, and Oxford, which has no deed transfer tax.
dcole@amherstdaily.com
