Minnesota REALTORS® Defeat Sales Tax on Real Estate Services

A proposed state sales tax on real estate services would have added $1,500 to the cost of buying and selling a $250,000 home, and the 17,000-member Minnesota Association of REALTORS (MNAR) was determined not to let that happen.  Political strategists at NAR helped the state association use an Issues Mobilization Grant to craft a five-month, multi-phase campaign using a dedicated website, newspaper and online advertising, an online petition, patch-through phone calls, direct-mail and emails to homeowners.  When the Governor dropped the tax on services from his proposal – thanks, in part, to the unrelenting pressure of MNAR’s campaign – the association kept up its offensive by shifting to a campaign aimed at preventing the legislature from including service sales taxes in any tax proposals later in the spring.  It was a complete success.

• Read about MNAR’s campaign to defeat a sales tax on real estate services (282K PDF)