Santa Fe considers tax on mansions as housing prices soar

Voters are deciding whether to tax mansions to pay for affordable housing initiatives in a state capital city prized for its desert-mountain vistas, vibrant arts scene and stucco architecture rooted in Native American and Spanish-colonial tradition. The tax on homes sold for more than $1 million is being pitched as a lifeline to teachers, service-sector workers, single parents and young professionals who can't afford local mortgages or struggle to pay rent amid a national housing shortage and the arrival in Santa Fe of high-income digital nomads and affluent retirees. The Nov. 7 ballot measure is the latest bellwether for the popularity of so-called mansion taxes to fund affordable housing and stave off homelessness.