This plan could deter investors from driving up home prices in Charlotte

New housing tax?

Regarding “Officials grapple with investors’ effects on local housing,” (April 13):

Institutional investors buying Charlotte area residential properties are having a deleterious impact on homebuyers, renters and real estate professionals. Charlotte has struggled with housing affordability challenges for some time, and these outside investors are only making these challenges greater.

The state requires a tax of 0.20% of the sales price for any residential property sold. One solution may be for the county or state to charge an additional fee/tax when the buyer is an investor. A sufficient fee/tax should dissuade these investors from driving up the cost of housing in our area.

This would help make the dream of home ownership within reach for many who are priced out of today’s market and make renting more affordable for those not ready to buy.

I’m certainly an advocate for a free-market economy, but something must be done to slow the rate of investors’ buying homes in our area.

Nelson Pharr, Charlotte

Affordable housing

Once again our local officials are only paying lip-service to something that has been going on for a decade. People have been moving out of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County for at least as long as I’ve lived here. One suggestion to reduce the amount of investor-owned housing was to encourage “more dense residential development.” High-density housing is often rental housing. The developers who own this town and can do as they please are not going to build affordable housing.

To quote Mecklenburg Commissioner Leigh Altman: “If we are not careful and we just sit back, we are going to find ourselves in a position where our constituents can never get on that rung of home ownership.”

It’s already too late!

Carol Lovan, Charlotte

Abortion in NC

Regarding “Abortion is on the ballot in 2022 election,” (April 10 Opinion):

What’s happening in many states when it comes to abortion is extremely worrisome. If Roe v. Wade is reversed, as expected, abortion will become illegal in about half the states.

Abortion has become stigmatized over the past few decades, mostly for political purposes. But nearly one in four women has had or will have an abortion in their lifetime. We all know and love women who have had abortions.

At the same time, the maternal mortality rate in North Carolina is close to 11%. More energy should be expended to solve this serious issue. For the sake of women and families, I hope we’re able to keep abortion legal in our state.

Laura Reich, Matthews

Common threads

Regarding Leonard Pitts “Americans no longer have a common thread,” (April 10 Opinion):

We do have common threads! Acts of kindness, helping our neighbors during tragic events, and solving community issues are part of our daily life across this country.

What we have is too much labeling of everything — Red, Blue, Republican, Democrat or Black and White. The issue is not solved by more education, history or critical thinking. The media and organizations that feed us the news need to drop labels and just report news in unfettered ways. It’s become a business to tear this country apart by labels. We’re better and stronger than that.

Daryl Solomonson, Troutman

Budd TV ad

Does U.S Senate candidate Ted Budd really think the people of North Carolina are bamboozled by his gun-toting swagger or his support of an inefficient, old-fashioned border wall that doesn’t work?

Suzanne Forbes, Charlotte

Fossil fuels

It seems counterproductive to host climate change summits in major oil-producing countries, as the recent gathering in Dubai showed. Why should OPEC nations agree to scale back their most prosperous revenue stream? They argue the world demands fossil fuels, so we cannot achieve the 2030 goals needed to stabilize global warming. It’s frustrating and baffling that money consistently prevents us from having a more livable planet. We must get serious about reducing carbon emissions quickly, if we’re going to live in a world with accessible food and water and not keep getting battered by hurricanes, floods, fires and tornadoes.

Kim Fanelly, Mint Hill

Red light runners

New York City has an ordinance that prohibits delivery trucks from idling more than three minutes. Citizens who document a violation send the footage and a sworn affidavit to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. If the vehicle owner is fined, the citizen gets one quarter of the fine. We need such an ordinance in Charlotte relative to running red lights. Any citizen who can demonstrate a particular driver ran a red light could collect a portion of the fine. I’ll bet with a tripod and a video camera at the corner of Harris Boulevard and The Plaza I could put a kid through college.

Tim Mead, Charlotte

Cell phones

I’d like to tell any state legislator who might be listening: Please introduce a bill to require traffic signals to emit a shrill noise when the light changes from red to green so that drivers staring at the their phones in their laps will be jolted and resume driving.

Hank Durkin, Charlotte