Canadian Real Estate

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]embers of the Toronto Real Estate Board showed up at city hall earlier this week to demand Mayor Rob Ford make good on his promise to end the city’s land transfer tax sooner rather than later.

“Four years ago, many of the same city councillors that are currently opposing changes at city hall claimed that the Toronto land transfer tax would solve the city’s financial challenges,” Richard Silver, president of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), said in a news release. “Yet, here we are, four years after the city began collecting the land transfer tax, and the city’s financial situation is the same, if not worse. Why? The answer is simple: the land transfer tax was a band-aid, not a real solution. Like all Band-Aids, it needs to be removed.”

Only a year ago, Ford declared at an election debate, “I am the only candidate that has put in my platform that I will abolish the land transfer tax as soon as I’m elected.” Approaching his one-year anniversary as the city’s mayor, many people are wondering if Ford actually will remove the real estate levy.

[pullquote]The city’s land transfer tax costs the average Toronto homebuyer about $6,000. When the provincial version of this tax is added, buyers can expect to pay on average more $12,000 in land transfer taxes.[/pullquote]

TREB is directing Torontonians to its website Nohomebuyingtax.com, which offers members of the public a land transfer tax calculator and email links to city councillors – a way of voicing their opposition to the real estate tax.

“Realtors have seen the result of the City’s past approach to fiscal management first hand,” Silver said. “Relying on unfair taxes, like the Toronto Land Transfer Tax, instead of getting the city’s finances in order, has hurt home buyers, home owners, and the Toronto economy. We urge City Council to work with the mayor to bring the city into a better financial position.”

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Contact Laurin Jeffrey for more information – 416-388-1960

Laurin Jeffrey is a Toronto Realtor with Century 21 Regal Realty. He did not
write these articles, he just reproduces them here for people who are
interested in Toronto real estate. He does not work for any builders.
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