Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

The Realty Transfer Tax impacts home buyers (and sellers) and economic development. The Commonwealth adds one percent to the cost of almost every property sale. For home buyers, this can be thousands of dollars in taxes due at closing and represents one more financial hurdle to overcome. They’re essentially paying for the privilege of buying a home. 
 
Similarly, we hear a lot about incentivizing businesses to choose Pennsylvania or expand their footprint. When they choose the Commonwealth, we’re immediately increasing the cost of any real estate they purchase. Given the cost of commercial real estate, the Realty Transfer Tax can add tens of thousands of dollars to the price tag. 
 
Too often, Pennsylvania’s “solutions” to problems involves the creation of a complicated program administered by one government agency or another. Rather than establishing another targeted business tax break or well-intentioned home ownership program, what if we took less money out of people’s pockets to start with? 
 
I will be reintroducing SB 1268 to eliminate the state portion of the realty transfer tax, which was previously cosponsored by Senator Rothman.  

Getting rid of this tax will immediately reduce the cost of buying a home and have a positive impact on economic development. 

 
I hope that you will join me in supporting this important piece of legislation.