"It's a fairly simple tax. It would be a tax when you sell your home, and so, for example, if we had a 1 percent real estate transfer tax that means 1 percent of the sales value when you sell your home would go to that tax," explains Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "You could sort of think of it as a sales tax when you sell your home.

"Now those in favor of the tax say it would give counties another option for raising money for local functions like school buildings and fire and police," he adds. "And indeed those proponents say that counties could use that perhaps in place of higher property taxes.

"Those opposed say that it is unfair to have such a tax that is focused on one particular sector -– real estate -– and those opponents would prefer that local taxes be broad based. Some opponents also question the need for more local revenues," Walden continues.

"Now one compromise that some have discussed is to have a real estate transfer tax but only have it on the gain in value at the time the house is sold."