To some people $450 isn’t a lot of money, especially the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. Today, in the Hartford Courant, CCM said the little people, the taxpayers, should get over it and support the re-institution of the Real Estate Conveyance Tax, the lone subject for action at the June 11 Special Session.

CCM is the lobbying arm of the locally elected and appointed municipal officials and its membership is dominated by town managers and big-city Democratic Mayors.

The real estate conveyance tax is paid at closing by the seller, and is based on the sale price, not equity or ability to pay. The tax was first enacted in the 1960s at a rate of 0.11% of the transaction price. In 2003, the legislature approved temporary conveyance tax increases to make up for cuts in state aid to municipalities. The municipal portion of the tax was raised to 0.25% for all towns and 18 targeted towns were given the option to add up to an additional 0.25% tax on home sales in their towns.

The temporary increases were first slated to end in June of 2004, but have been extended three times. The current sunset date is June 30, 2008 if nothing is not done. Hence, the need for a Special Session to stick it to the taxpayers.

CCM and the Connecticut  Realtors have been in steel-caged death match since, with the latter trying to convince the Legislature and Gov. Rell to let it die. Republican legislators have opposed it, although whether it is unanimous remains to be seen.

Still, many Republicans, including the author, see the Conveyance Tax as a pernicious robbing of the taxpayer. It is another indignation and thievery worthy of Richard III. And the arrogance of CCM knows no bounds, and all you have to do is read their letter to the editor today to see it.

First, the tax on a home sold at $300,000 would net a city or town $450. CCM says it’s no big deal. Well, if it’s isn’t, then why not trim the local budgets?  Why does that money have to come out of our pockets?

And $450 is a lot of money to most people. It is a couple of months of electricity, a major appliance, about nine tanks of gas or a couple of car payments.

When you add $450 to $4 per gallon of gas, to higher electric bills, to a $250 business tax for small one-person businesses and to the general higher cost of food, insurance and energy, well, then, is that too much? You betcha Mr. Bureaucrat!

It’s more than time for people to get a little angry here. A home is for most citizens, their most valuable, sometimes primary asset. Homes are now decreasing in value. Since March of 2007, the foreclosure rate is 40 percent higher – 40 percent.

The clincher with the Conveyance Tax is even if you sell your home at a loss, you are still on the hook, so City Hall and the State Capitol can keep their lights on.

If this revenue is so critical to the future of municipal services, then why did the local budget planners insist on relying on it as a permanent revenue stream? Answer, because they don’t want to gore any sacred cows. When the tax was put on the books in 2003 as a stop gap measure, it should have been treated – not a permanent source of funding.

Sort of like a child who gets an allowance and expects Mom and Dad to come across well into adulthood. But that is what our government has become- an overfed ungrateful child who gets up late, drinks the last slug of orange juice from the fridge and asks “what’s for dinner?”

If you wish to join the fight to end the Conveyance Tax, click here.