© KY3 2009

A statewide group is trying to head off a tax currently collected in 37 states but not Missouri. It's considered a pre-emptive strike against a tax that could hit you if you sell your home. 

It's called the real estate transfer tax -- and Missouri real estate agents call it unfair double taxation. That's why they're getting behind a ballot initiative to change the constitution to bar it from ever coming to Missouri. 

Ricky Fuentes just became a new homeowner in the quiet community of Clever. If this 21-year-old lived in one of the states currently collecting a real estate transfer tax, agents said his move might have become unaffordable. 

"It could be potentially thousands of dollars. I think on a national basis, they range as high as about four percent," said Miles Noenning of the Board of Realtors. 

"Yeah, it would've made a big impact on me," said Fuentes. 

The transfer tax is paid by buyers or sellers when property is sold.  The rate varies by state, and every state bordering Missouri applies one.

"Even for those family farms and homes of that nature that have been inherited and have been passed down from generation to generation, this would even affect them," said Stacy Lacey of Carol Jones Realtors. 

So organizers want voters to pass a constitutional amendment banning cities, counties and even the state from tapping the tax, as they look for ways to shore up slumping revenues.   There's no real sign anyone is pursuing such an option but, in a rough real estate market, the industry is taking no chances. 

Fuentes, who is still settling into his new home, is on board with their efforts, so other young people still have a shot at what used to be referred to as the American dream. "There's no way I'd be able to afford a house at this time (with that tax). I had to come up with money just to fall into this house, which was difficult enough," Fuentes said. 

The group spearheading the effort, "Vote Yes to Stop Double Taxation" needs about 230,000 signatures by May to get the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.  If it gets the signatures, it likely would appear on the November 2010 ballot.