Toronto Municipal Sales Tax? How About the Massive Land Transfer Tax?
While Toronto mulls over implementing a municipal sales tax to help fill its budget shortfall, a critic calls attention to the city’s proposed new tiers for the land transfer tax, which can make homeownership all the more difficult, especially for first-time buyers.
X user Daniel Ari Freiheit, who goes by the handle @LionAdvocacy, posted a screenshot from a City Council report of the recommended new thresholds and rates for high-value properties, showing land transfer tax at 3.5% to 7.5% for properties valued at $3,000,000 to over $20,000,000.
Toronto’s current thresholds stop at 2.5% for properties priced at $2,000,000 and above. When the concept for the new high-value tiers was first presented in 2019, councilors said it would be “housing paying for housing” — the goal was to use the increase to cover more housing allowances for struggling families.
But, a pandemic, an inflationary environment, and a $46.5 billion hole in Toronto’s budget later, “housing paying for housing” doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. The city has actively been looking for new ways to generate income and pump its already-suffering taxpayers.
The implementation of a municipal sales tax, which isn’t new but has never been done in Canada, is among the top candidates to help stem the crisis.
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