The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) needs your help. With resale home sales declining, TREB members are asking you to contact City Hall about scrapping the recently added Toronto land transfer tax.
But Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s) is calling TREB’s plea to drop the tax “opportunistic.” That’s because Councillor Mihevc seems to think home buyers can provide funding to the proverbial bottomless pit whenever City Hall comes up short in the cash department.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, Councillor Mihevc believes the hated tax has had no negative impact on home sales whatsoever. Because of his skewed thinking, he wants the milking of tax payers to continue, even if it means leaving potential home buyers unable to buy.
In response, TREB has stepped up to the plate, statistics in hand, ready to do battle.
“The land transfer tax is not balanced and not fair,” said board spokesman Von Palmer, citing a 21-per-cent drop in the number of sales for the first half of October, compared with 2007.
Last week, Mayor David Miller moved that as a stimulus, development charges on new home construction be frozen. “If you are concerned about the real estate industry [new developments] and what the economy is doing to that industry now, then you have to be equally concerned about the land transfer tax”, said Palmer.
Palmer suggested resale housing should receive the same treatment as new home construction. Others are also jumping into the fray. William Strange, professor of real estate and urban economics at the University of Toronto commented “It does not seem like the first place you would look,” in reference to City Hall’s milking of home buyers for extra funding.
The latest data from TREB revealed that the average sale price of homes in Toronto plunged 15 per cent – from $441,878 to $375,804 – compared to this time last year.
Let Councillor Mihevc know how you feel about the land transfer tax grab!
Contact him through his web site at:
www.toronto.ca/councillors/mihevc1.htm
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