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Resolution No. 2003-35 home sales this year while other sectors of the economy have remained fairly tame, housing is stimulating a wide range of related goods and services that accompany the typical home sale, " he said; and WHEREAS, expanding the sales tax base to include real estate services will push home prices further out-of-reach for middle class families and worsen our shortage of affordable housing. Research by the National Association of Realtors shows that for every one percent increase needed for a down payment, home affordability decreases by up to seventy percent (70%) for potential home buyers. Expanding the sales tax base to include real estate services, hurts those families and individuals who can least afford it by pushing them out of the housing market; and WHEREAS, reducing the tax rollback on commercial property from ten percent (10%) to five percent (5%) is an unvoted tax increase. This tax increase will require commercial property owners to pay over $220 million in additional property taxes over the next year. This dramatic tax increase will likely force commercial property owners to raise the rentaUlease fee on the individuals and businesses that occupy the property, when the terms are negotiated; and WHEREAS, a majority of commercial property owners have entered into long- term leases with their tenants. In this case, the tax increase becomes a direct cost to the property owner at a time when offsetting adjustments cannot be made; and R'HEREAS, the weak economy and its related effects will soften the U. S. commercial real estate markets for at least another yeaz, according to "Emerging Trends in Real Estate: 2003," an annual survey of how real estate commercial practitioners see the future; and WHEREAS, rising vacancies, corporate belt-tightening, downward pressure on rents, and rising expenses will make 2003 a problematic year for investors. In additian, the fallout from the September 11 attacks had a greater impact on commercial real estate than it did on residential real estate, which experienced only a brief disruption. As a result, the slow pace of the recovery will result in higher vacancies and softening rents for all property types; and WHEREAS, since the events of September 11?', real estate and commercial lending have felt the negative effects of insufficient terrorism insurance coverage. Last year in a report to the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Committee, the GAO noted that "an increasing number of commercial transactions aze being cancelled or defened" because of the unavailability of affordable insurance against terrorist attack. If the problem isn't remedied, these cancellations could result in a slower economic recovery, concludes the report; and WHEREAS, despite the fact President Bush in late November, 2002 signed legislation creating a federal terrorism insurance backstop, that addresses the rising costs and declining availability of terrorism insurance, an estimated $15 billion in real estate