The Board’s Government Affairs Committee has been monitoring the recent proposal in Great Barrington for an addition of a transfer tax on property sales.  During the last two meetings, the proposals changed a bit, but as of the August 7th Select Board Meeting, they are considering asking the voters to send a home rule petition to the state to add a 1% transfer tax on sales over $1 million dollars (residential and commercial) that is to be split by the buyer and the seller and is to be given to the Affordable Housing Trust.  They hope to raise $200K per year based on last year’s sales.  We were fortunate to have a group of committed agents in Great Barrington attend a fact session today to look at how we got here, understand similar proposals elsewhere and learn about some research MAR presented for us.  We thank Jonny Schreiber | Legislative and Regulatory Counsel of MAR for his insight. If you care about this issue and would like to learn more, please reach out to Sandy Carroll.  Know this – We all care deeply about affordable and workforce housing. We also support equitable tax policies, such as the Community Preservation Act, but do not believe that a transfer tax if right for Great Barrington or anywhere in the Berkshires.