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“If the Realtors are so concerned, why don’t they lower their 6 percent [commissions]?” James Finley, Connecticut Conference of Municipalities chief lobbyist.

This folks is what you are fighting when I bitch about government greed. The example of Connecticut fighting Realtors over a short term transfer tax that the cities and municipalities want to maintain. Connecticut put in a short term increase in the conveyance tax that was paid when the home transfered title. Now that it is up for renewal the state and cities want to keep it in place (what a surprise).

But what is really offensive is this horrid lobbyist saying that real estate agents should bear the brunt of it. Mr. Finley, you think you are so smart, but do you realize that the so called 6 percent also pays a hell of a lot of taxes across the state and country. I throw country in there because these cities and states live off the federal tit for much of their money already.

The pittance they are raising is nothing compared to the myriad of taxes, sales taxes, and other government fees that real estate agents pay in earning that “6 percent commission.”

The thing we have to remind all of the bureaucrats and all of the sucker fish (lobbyists) that hang on to the sides of government is that it is our money that funds government. The taxpayers are too busy to focus on governmental officials to get all their transgressions, but when they get us riled up by rubbing our noses in it, we will go after them.

It looks like the Realtors in Connecticut have awoken to the bloodsucking nature of their state and their minions lobbyists do not like it.

The Realtors have been locked in a five-year battle with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which says that cities and towns need the extra $40 million generated by the increased tax on the sale of all properties. The municipalities group is fighting back hard, saying the cities and towns have come to rely on that money to fund local services.

“It’s part of the transaction price. It’s the cost of doing business,” said James Finley, CCM’s chief lobbyist. “If the Realtors are so concerned, why don’t they lower their 6 percent [commissions]?”  via Courant.com.

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