Government Sweating Revenue, or No More Private Idaho
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The fear of lost revenue is what keeps government officials up at night not the welfare of the citizens.
And if you do not believe that, look at what is happening in Idaho. The State Senate is looking at making it criminal not to report exactly the amount of real estate transactions in the state for the assessors.
Do you get the feeling they do not want to lose a dollar?
Oh, and if you misrepresent the sales price of a home in this proposed legislation? You would be looking at 30 days in jail and a 300 dollar fine. Fun stuff.
Property buyers would be forced to tell Idaho’s county assessors what they paid for residential real estate under a bill passed Wednesday by a Senate committee. The measure aims to help assessors more accurately tax homes and land in the state’s volatile real estate environment.
The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee approved the measure 5-3 over the objections of real estate agents and state builders associations. via the Houston Chronicle.
YES! YES! YES! 
Is there any way you can update these numbers to reflect current rates? 
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Check out their values today.
A good option today would be to hold. 
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Comment by Erin on 22 February 2008:
That sounds a bit excessive - you would get less jail time for possession of marijuana in most states.
Comment by Mark Harrison on 26 February 2008:
It’s amazing the cultural differences between the US and the UK I pick up by reading this blog.
My reaction on reading the story was amazement…
… that this wasn’t already an offence.
Here in the UK it has been for several years, though in our case it’s because there’s a tax on the transaction itself rather than for ongoing property-tax purposes.
It wouldn’t be normal to aware a prison sentence, though - over here it would be a fine, plus the extra amount of tax due, plus interest, with a 7-year period following the transaction in which this can be audited.
Also, because the tax is at a higher rate for higher transactions, it’s an offense to try to split a property deal into several separate transactions, so you pay the lower rate on each.