Realtors hit the airwaves to oppose tax hike

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If you watched television this weekend, there’s a good chance you got a little real estate tax policy messaging with your college hoop or your local news.

The Washington Associaton of Realtors, always one of the bigger and more aggressive players in Olympia, put up a $400,000 ad campaign to oppose House Bill 1628, which would increase state real estate excise tax, knowns as the REET¹, to 4 percent on transactions of more than $5 million. The top rate is currently 3 percent, which kicks in for transactions of more than $3,025,000. It would also allow local governments to charge a higher REET on all transactions.

As we reported last month, that money — more than $700 million per year — would be largely earmarked for affordable housing, essentially creating a system by which the taxation on market-rate property pays to build and maintain housing for folks who are largely shut out of that system.