Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo wants rich second-house owners to “Shake Off” a few more bucks reports, MSN Entertainment. Dubbed the “Taylor Swift Tax” after the famous signer who bought a beachfront mansion in Westerly for $17.75 million in 2013, this measure would tax secondary homes worth more than $1 million.
Raimondo hopes that this measure will raise $12 million and help with the deficit relief, standing at $190 million. She believes that this measure will not affect people’s decision to buy homes in Rhode Island since Newport is still cheaper than Nantucket, Massachusetts.
However, realtors in the state think this tax could indeed affect people’s decision to buy in Rhode Island, according to the Providence Journal. “These new taxes will undermine Rhode Island’s housing recovery and thus, its economic recovery, and could set a precedent for further increases in the future,” Bruce Lane, the president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, told the Journal.
Paul Blair, a state affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform shared similar thoughts with the Washington Examiner. “This tax hike will have the effect of leaving swaths of ‘Blank Space’ throughout Rhode Island as small business owners and retirees opt for more friendly states,” he said.