Declining home sales and lower values are hurting property tax collections in Vermont and elsewhere around New England.
In Vermont, receipts for the property transfer tax plunged more than 14 percent in the first six months of the fiscal year, compared with the same period last year.
In 2007, revenues from the tax in the first half of the year were $20 million. This year, they’re down to $17.2 million.
Maine officials project that they will take in $18.9 million in transfer taxes for the current fiscal year, which runs through June. That’s a 44 percent drop from the peak three years ago.
The real estate slump is hitting states that count on money generated by taxes on real estate transfers – in Vermont and across northern New England.