Over FIVE HUNDRED REALTORS® from every part of Maryland turned out on March 14 to express their OPPOSITION to HB 448, a bill to expand the list of businesses taxed on services to include real estate.
Many REALTORS® arrived on buses from their local associations/boards, and hundreds drove independently to begin the day with breakfast with their legislators in the Miller Senate Office Building. Armed with talking points about HB 448 and wearing neon-yellow lanyards with a NO service-tax stop sign, they congregated on Lawyers Mall, a park area immediately in front of the State House, to participate in a REALTOR® Rally.
As legislators crossed Lawyers Mall to go into their business sessions, REALTORS® formed a gauntlet to greet them chanting, NO SERVICE TAX! NO SERVICE TAX, while waving their home-made, NO service-tax stop signs.
A line of REALTORS® wrapped nearly half way around STATE CIRCLE to get lunch prior to the hearing, a powerful visual image for legislators and others passing by.
While on his way to lunch, Senate President Mike Miller met with MAR President Ilene Kessler and former MAR President, Nick D'Ambrosia, standing in the lunch line. He was relieved to learn that the hundreds of REALTORS® he saw were there because of a House Bill rather than a Senate Bill.
Seating in the House Ways & Means Committee Room for the H448 hearing was limited, but the overflow crowd remained. Security was doubled to help manage the crowds.
The Presidents Panel testifying for the Maryland Association of REALTORS®, headed by MAR President Ilene Kessler, included Anne Arundel County Association of REALTORS® President Tom Hough; Greater Baltimore Board of REALTORS® President-Elect Cathy Werner; Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS® President Brenda Small; and Prince George's County Association of REALTORS® President Donnie Frederick.
Kessler spoke about the negative impact HB 448 would have on housing affordability. Small argued that REALTOR® small businesses would be unfairly targeted by the new tax. Hough pointed out the numerous proposals already under consideration to tax real estate. Werner gave the real-property manager's perspective and the ramifications to the rental community, Frederick reminded the Committee about the significant contribution the real estate industry currently makes to the Maryland economy.
Then, in an extraordinarily effective gesture that both respected the late hour and demonstrated the importance of the issue to REALTORS®, MAR Vice President Bill Castelli asked that REALTORS® in the audience who had independently signed in to testify would instead stand-up and state, "Me too," for the record. To the astonishment of the Committee, virtually the entire room, all REALTORS® stood. When they left shortly thereafter, the room was empty save for the Committee and a few others.
The day concluded with a reception for REALTORS® back at the Calvert House to debrief and recuperate from a long day during which everyone learned important lessons in civics and the power of grassroots.
To keep informed about the progress of HB 448 and other bills affecting REALTORS® and the real estate industry, go to the Government Affairs tab on www.mdrealtor.org. |