Brown should veto records tax

Tax and spend liberals are at it again. This time they promise to correct the lack of affordable housing by forcing county recorders to collect an additional fee of $75, with few exceptions, on real estate instruments, not to exceed $225.

A person purchasing a multi-million-dollar home will not pay the higher tax because actual real estate sales are exempt. But a widow recording an affidavit of her spouse’s death would pay this regressive tax, and so will common people who need to record deeds, grant deeds, trustee’s deeds, deeds of trust, and a boatload of other documents, too many to list.

The bill’s author, Sen. Toni Atkins of San Diego, claims it will increase recording fee collections by upwards of $700 million. However, according to a 2016 report issued by the California Legislative Analyst, greater subsidies, such as those proposed by this legislation, won’t fix this problem.

Others believe that the law will hit minority and low-income communities the hardest. If we want to see housing come back, Gov. Jerry Brown must veto this bill, while our city fathers should work to remove restrictive regulations, lower building permit and impact fee costs and push for California Environmental Quality Act reform now.

This story was originally published September 4, 2017 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Brown should veto records tax."