By Bob Katzen

Gov. Baker has proposed an increase from $2 per $500 of assessed value to $3 per $500 of value in the deeds excise tax which is paid by the seller upon selling real estate property. The increase is estimated to generate an additional $137 million per year and an estimated $1 billion over the next decade to implement new climate adaption programs to protect Massachusetts’ residents, communities, economy and infrastructure.

“It’s pretty clear that climate change is starting to have a very significant impact on our communities, on our infrastructure, on personal property, on real property and on community property,” said Baker. “This is a way for us to build a program that can generate about $1 billion over 10 years to invest in communities, to invest in resiliency, to invest in infrastructure, to protect people’s property and to protect community property.”