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Saturday, November 29, 2025
GoLocal LIVE
Donna Simmons, the top realtor in the Watch Hill area, said in an interview with GoLocal LIVE that the market may be beginning to feel the impacts of the so-called “Taylor Swift” tax, and it has not even gone into effect yet.
Taylor Swift PHOTO: UK Cosmo CC: 3.0
“As the summer wore on, many of the comments also came back from potential buyers as to, ‘what does this mean, the Taylor Swift tax?’ which is really a non-resident tax. And while it may or may not adversely affect the market at the very high end, smart buyers are at least considering it,” said Simmons with Mott & Chase Sotheby’s International.
The “Taylor Swift tax” was passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly and approved by Governor Dan McKee this past legislative session. The law imposes a new statewide tax on non-owner-occupied residential properties with assessed values of $1 million or more.
The tax applies to owners of residential properties under the following criteria:
– The property must have an assessed value of $1 million or more as of December 31 of the tax year
– The property must not serve as the owner's primary residence
– The owner must not occupy the property for a majority of days during the tax year.
The tax rate is $2.50 for each $500 of assessed value above $1 million. For example, a property assessed at $1.2 million would be hit with an additional annual tax of $1,000, while a property assessed at $2 million would face a $5,000 annual tax, and a $3 million property would be subject to $10,000 annually.
Simmons adds, “I do believe that it is going to contribute over the long haul to some of our buyers saying, ‘Oh, great. I'll just go to Massachusetts, or I'll stay somewhere on the Connecticut shoreline.’”
Imondi Says Legal Challenges Are Coming
Realtor Stephen Imondi, also with Mott & Chace said, “And the Taylor Swift tax is really unfairly named after her I guess but it it really seems to penalize people that want to invest in Rhode Island — maybe not live here for the entire year. And that's who this tax is going after — it's going after non-owner occupant people who have houses here.”
“I don't know the basis for the way this tax came about. I think it is a little flawed, and I think it will be challenged before July of next year, and I think there may even be some changes to it,” said Imondi.
The tax, which becomes effective on July 1, 2026, is then scheduled to go up from there.
Beginning July 1, 2027, the $1 million trigger will be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), with adjustments compounded annually and rounded up to the nearest $5 increment.
The threshold can never decrease from the prior year.
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