PRESENTATION: THE FIX WE'RE IN

The bad ideas
The Texas Association of REALTORS® supports property-tax relief, but does not support new taxes and fees that single out the most steady contributor to our economy: real estate. We oppose measures that would diminish real estate’s contributions to the Texas economy or increase the cost of homeownership in the state. Texas already lags four points behind the rest of the country in homeownership levels, 65% to 69%. More precisely, Texas ranks 42nd out of 50 states in homeownership.

Incredibly, a few lawmakers have advocated harming the one thing that has kept the Texas economy afloat for the last six or seven years. Real estate. Various approaches to school-funding would further increase the cost of buying and selling homes in Texas, including: real estate transfer tax, and a tax on professional services.

A real estate transfer tax would prevent thousands of Texas families from achieving the American Dream of homeownership. It would also make it much more difficult for those who need to sell their homes someday. And finally, it would hurt the Texas economy.

A tax on services, like a real estate transfer tax, would significantly raise the amount of money that Texas families would have to come up with to buy a home.

Next: How do we solve this?