{"id":20009,"date":"2024-09-05T13:58:12","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T13:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=20009"},"modified":"2024-09-05T13:59:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T13:59:24","slug":"santa-fe-realtors-promote-diverse-housing-options-in-housing-strapped-region-2-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-2-4-2-2-3-2-4-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/war-im0924","title":{"rendered":"Washington REALTORS\u00ae Campaigns to Defeat Transfer Tax Increase"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the spirit of \u2018a rising tide lifts all boats,\u2019 Washington REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> has supported initiatives to generate revenue to ease the ongoing housing crisis.\u00a0 However, when a bill was introduced in the House and the Senate that would apply an additional 1% transfer tax to the sale of any real estate sale over $3M, in order to fund affordable housing programs, the organization\u2019s Government Affairs Committee examined it carefully \u2013 and found it would hurt more than help.\u00a0 With an Issues Mobilization Grant<\/a> from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party, they mobilized a consumer campaign to dissuade the legislature.<\/p>\n

Mary Hull-Drury was Washington REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup>\u2019 newly minted Government Affairs Director when discussion of the tax proposal surfaced.\u00a0 She explains the GA team and members analyzed it every which way: \u201cWe took a hard look at the proposal.\u00a0 But for any upside of the bill as written, that negative impact it would have on economic development was unacceptable.\u00a0 \u00a0The tax would have applied to developments such as apartment buildings, senior housing, land development, and the struggling commercial and office market. It would have halted a lot of transactions and the development of desperately needed supply throughout the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late January, during their annual Hill Day event (aka Legislative Days), members fanned out to discuss the bill with legislators; Hull-Drury actually had to leave the event, temporarily, to testify against it.\u00a0 \u201cOur members are integral to our advocacy, and the messaging that we were using came in handy as we simultaneously applied for the Issues Mobilization Grant.\u00a0 Our bottom line was that it doesn\u2019t make sense to apply a sales tax on real estate to fund affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the grant in hand, and strong coalition partners, Washington REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> mounted a campaign targeting consumers in two strategic regions, explaining the issue and urging them to contact their legislators. \u00a0Television, radio, and online pre-roll ads featured the owner of a local flooring company describing how an increased tax on the sale of his business would affect his employees\u2019 jobs and consumer pricing. \u201cIt was very compelling,\u201d says Hull-Drury. \u201cAll the downstream increases are not initially apparent, but this made it clear that every step of the way, the tax would have a negative effect on consumers and the cost of housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it worked: the resulting voter-outreach to legislators was so successful that the bill stayed in committee.\u00a0 Although the REALTORS\u00ae <\/sup>were told the message was resonating with the target audience, they took no chances, letting the campaign play out until the legislation was \u2018dead.\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite the defeat of the bill, reports Hull-Drury, a renewed proposal for the same transfer tax increase is expected to surface in the coming session.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cWe have it on good authority that we\u2019ll see it again soon, likely a repeat of the same legislation, and we\u2019ll cross that bridge when we come to it.\u00a0 In the meantime,\u201d she says, \u201cthe REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> are working on solutions.\u00a0 We\u2019re focused on opportunities to increase options for density in housing throughout the state.\u00a0 That the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party is behind us as we tackle all these housing challenges plays a big part of our success.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how Washington REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> have kept a lid on the state\u2019s transfer taxes, contact Government Affairs Director Mary Hull-Drury at mary.drury@warealtor.org<\/a> or 360.481.1965.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When multiple bills threatened an increased transfer tax on any real estate sale over $3M that encompassed a commercial development, Washington REALTORS\u00ae anticipated the derailment of desperately needed transactions throughout the state. An Issues Mobilization Grant from the REALTOR\u00ae Party helped them voice a strong argument against the problematic legislation.","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[566,575,425],"class_list":["post-20009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","tag-issue-mobilization","tag-issues-mobilization-grant","tag-washington"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}