Home excise taxes steal equity from home sellers.
If the tax is paid by the seller, the home excise tax would rob New Mexican homeowners of the equity they have built up in their homes for other important uses like college tuition, home improvements, down payment on a new home or retirement.
Increasing closing costs will make it harder to buy a home.
If the tax is paid by the buyer, the home tax could force homebuyers to come up with additional cash at closing and make qualifying for homes more difficult. In fact, by adding these unnecessary transaction costs they disproportionately affect low-income workers, working families and first-time homebuyers, essentially hitting those with the least amount of disposable income the hardest.
Home excise taxes make homeownership less affordable over time.
Increasing real estate taxes worsens the shortage of affordable homes as these taxes will inevitably be passed on to homebuyers through higher-priced homes. This can have a detrimental effect on first time homebuyers, working families, senior citizens, and those with fixed or low incomes.
Home excise taxes encourage urban sprawl.
High taxing municipalities drive home buyers and home builders to outlying areas in the counties and unincorporated areas in an effort to escape these additional costs.
Home excise taxes make New Mexico more expensive for homeowners than surrounding states.
Two of our neighbor states, Texas and Utah, have no transfer tax. Arizona has a nominal $2.00 fee per deed or contract. Colorado has a .01% transfer fee and Oklahoma has a .15% transfer fee. Only 12 states in the nation allow local jurisdictions to tax real estate transfers. States with high taxes are also at a disadvantage when trying to attract new, beneficial economic interests that bring new jobs.
