Rhode Island’s ‘Taylor Swift Tax’ on Vacation Homes of the Wealthy Is Spreading to Other States
8th September 2025
CNBC, a Voice of the Crust.
A new push by states to tax the real estate of the wealthy has sparked a backlash among brokers and potential buyers, who say the taxes punish the most important local spenders.
Politicians don’t give a shit, as long as they get more of Other People’s Money to spend on buying the votes of the Underclass.
From tax hikes on pricey second homes in Rhode Island and Montana to Cape Cod’s proposed transfer tax on homes over $2 million and the L.A. mansion tax, state and local governments see a revenue gold mine in the pricey properties of the wealthy.
Democrats never see a dollar without hatching some scheme using the power of the State to steal it.
“It’s a smack in the face to people who just spend money here,” said Donna Krueger-Simmons, sales agent with Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
And deliberately so. Democrats think that if you have more money than they do, you must have stolen it from someone like them.
The tax hikes are being driven by tighter state budgets and populist anger over housing costs. States are looking to offset budget cuts expected from the new tax and spending bill in Washington. At the same time, the housing market has become a tale of two buyers, with the middle class and younger families struggling to afford homes while the luxury housing market thrives from wealthy all-cash buyers.
I guess they don’t teach the fable about the Golden Goose in school any more.