| KRTV's Helena Bureau Chief Marnee Banks jumped into the blogosphere recently (h/t Cowgirl) with The Banks Account, and yesterday brought up CI-105, an initiative that not too many are talking about.
First off, CI-105. The ballot language:
There is no existing state or local tax on transactions that sell or transfer real property in Montana. CI-105 amends the Montana Constitution to prohibit state or local governments from imposing any new tax on transactions that sell or transfer real property, such as residential homes, apartments, condominiums, townhouses, farms, ranches, land, and commercial property, after January 1, 2010.
Okay, so it's a ballot initiative that would overturn a tax that, erm, doesn't actually exist.
According to Banks, the backers of the initiative are the Montana Association of Realtors, represented by...Chuck Denowh! Who has a well-heeled history of setting up astroturf organizations for corporate initiatives! So...you know...what's the catch to this thing?
{Helena City Commissioner} Paul Cartwright says CI-105 is a scam from the National Association of Realtors. He also claims N.A.R. dumped over $1 million into Montana to get this initiative passed. "Back in my day we used to call these outside agitators," Cartwright added.
Then Cartwright went on to claim, "Perhaps the N.A.R. is bankrolling David and Charles Koch." Cartwright claims the Koch brothers own a 250,000 acre matador ranch outside Dillon. He says CI-105 would help landowners like the Koch's much more than it would the average Montanan.
"Is the National Association of Realtors in it to help me, or in it to help the Koch brothers?" Cartwright asked. "If you look around the table and can't see who the sucker is, it would be you," Cartwright said as he told the commission he will be voting against CI-105.
Helena Mayor, Jim Smith, also spoke out and said he didn't understand the logic behind this initiative either.
So...what's going on here? Is this a reaction to a provision in the health care bill that would slap a 3.8-percent tax on high-end real-estate sales? Or real-estate transfer taxes in other states? Whichever, it's true what Cartwright says, that more expensive homes will incur more tax penalty under such a system - if it were ever to be implemented in the state.
But...why not impose a real-estate transfer tax on high-end hobby houses? You know the kind - the ones with a gajillion acres and obstructing our access to rivers and wilderness areas. What a great idea!
So here's what we do. First, vote down CI-105. Then, in the legislature, pass a real-estate transaction tax on Montana's super-deluxe McMansions. |
