Majority of Vermonters Back a New Annual Tax on Second Homes, Poll Shows

The useful part

Katie Mandych thought she'd be in a financial position to try to purchase her first home by now. As rent for her Waterbury apartment has continued to escalate, the 31-year-old career coach has had little opportunity to save. That has informed Mandych's opinion that Vermont should enact a new tax on second homes — as a way to both raise money for the state's coffers and try to bring more housing into year-round use.

How it works

• Estimates of how many second homes exist in the Green Mountain State vary widely.
• An analysis of census and municipal property tax data by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency earlier this year suggested that the state has roughly 35,500 second homes that could be fit for year-round...
• When it comes to taxing second homes in Vermont, defining what should qualify is itself a matter of dispute — and a question that has dogged places like New York City and Rhode Island that have rolled out...
• In her view, higher taxes likely wouldn't pose a hardship to people who own multiple properties.
• "It makes sense for those individuals to also be paying the taxes on that home if they are in a financial position to have two homes," Mandych said.

What to take from it

"The rich people are going to be the first ones to leave, frankly, because they have the most choice," he said. In a recent Vermont Public poll, 57% of respondents said they thought that the state should impose a new yearly tax on second homes. Twenty-eight percent of respondents disagreed, and 15% said they were unsure.

Example or evidence

• Amanda Janoo, the Democratic nominee for governor, has made taxing "luxury second homes" and "commercial vacation rentals" at higher rates a central plank of her housing platform.
• Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor Molly Gray has said such a tax could help pay for universal primary care for Vermonters.
• John Rodgers both say they are wary of adding any new taxes, and point to the need to rein in education costs and grow Vermont's tax base to bring down property taxes for primary homeowners.
• Sentiments about second home taxes are fairly uniform across different regions of the state, according to the poll results.

Details worth keeping

Second home tax appeals to majority of Vermont poll respondents. A second home tax appears more popular with left-leaning voters: 70% of Democratic-leaning poll respondents said they supported a new second home tax, compared to 43% of Republican-leaning respondents and 54% of independent or minor party respondents. Vermont has had a high share of vacation homes ever since the U.S.

Related coverage

• Vtdigger: Abolishing property taxes on homesteads and shifting the burden to luxury vacation properties would ease the housing crisis. Read the story on VTDigger here: Stop taxing Vermonters out of their own homes.
• Vtdigger: A high tax on second homes could push more properties back into the hands of year-round residents. Read the story on VTDigger here: I'm a former second-home owner. We should tax second homes higher..
• Vtdigger: Blaming vacation rentals for the housing crisis overlooks who's actually paying more. Read the story on VTDigger here: Short-term rentals are vital to Vermont's economy.
• Vtdigger: Vermont could ease its housing crunch by helping older homeowners convert underused space into income-producing, accessible apartments.