Page 2 - Illinois Realtors plans $1 million campaign against transfer-tax increase Crains 1.30.24

On the residential side, the increase will hit a small, generally affluent population. About 5% of homes sold in
Chicago in the past year would be subject to a higher transfer tax. Because there’s a cut in the transfer tax for the
portion of a sale below $1 million, it only starts to become a net increase at $1.12 million.

The impact would be far more widespread on the commercial side, where transaction amounts are far larger. The
buyers who in August spent $2.6 million for the Irving Park site of a dry cleaner where they plan to build a day care
paid $19,500 in transfer taxes.

If Bring Chicago Home had been in place, they would have paid $49,000, with the $29,500 difference all allotted to
the city’s efforts to combat homelessness.

That, Baker said, is the potential impact that voters who favor Bring Chicago Home may not have considered yet.

“I would encourage every single voter in Chicago to walk out their front door and think of the first five small
businesses you’re going to pass in your neighborhood,” Baker said. “BCH is a tax on all those small businesses.”

Funded entirely by Illinois Realtors, a paid-membership group, this spending would be on top of about $242,000
the group spent opposing the plan in 2023, Laurence reported earlier this month.

It's also separate from the as-yet-unspecified amount that an independent expenditure committee led by Greg
Goldner of Resolute Public Affairs plans to spend. Laurence reported that Goldner is asking for six-figure
contributions toward the effort.

In the meeting with Crain’s, Baker said there’s no coordination between his association and Goldner’s group. He
said individual real estate agents might also speak up on their own, talking to their clients and friends about why
they oppose the plan.

While the referendum is only on the ballot in Chicago, it’s the statewide association, not the city association, that
has a political advocacy apparatus, Baker said, so it handles work on issues like Bring Chicago Home.