The Connecticut legislature ended its session last week without extending a real estate transfer tax that brings in $40 million annually to the state’s towns and cities.
The General Assembly is expected to hold a special session on the municipal real estate conveyance tax before it sunsets at the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
The municipal real estate conveyance tax revenue “can do a lot to restrain property tax increases and to keep local services from being cut back,” said Kevin Maloney, spokesman for Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, an organization representing the state’s cities and towns. “It’s also the only non-property-tax tax that towns can levy.”
The tax is opposed by the Connecticut Association of Realtors, which characterizes it as an unfair and hidden tax.
Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez last week lobbied for the tax to be extended in a letter sent to legislators.
“Should the legislature fail to [extend the tax], approximately $2.6 million will be stripped out of the budget of the city of Hartford,” Perez wrote.
