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The gift that Toronto keeps on giving to Oshawa
Lindsay Smith
By Lindsay Smith/Columnist
One of the biggest cost components when buying a home is Land Transfer Tax (LTT). Essentially, this is sales tax on property. There are several costs involved when closing on a home that has been purchased: Lawyer fees, LTT, disbursements and HST. The lawyer fee covers the transfer of ownership and common disbursements include title insurance, registering mortgages, property tax adjustments, etc. However, the big, really big, costly item is the LTT.
How does this relate to Toronto? Well, in 2008, the City of Toronto added a surtax to the Provincial Tax effectively doubling the tax paid by homeowners. A quote from an article in 2019 stated, “Toronto has by far the highest LTT in all of Canada… while average prices (Toronto) have increased 1,325% since 1974, LTT has increased 3,528%. Not only that Toronto city council is voting on, again, increasing the tax.”
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Last week, Toronto kick-started its annual budget process. This year’s budget will be like no other and will largely be remembered as the ‘COVID Budget.’
This budget is arriving at an unprecedented moment for the city, making it critical that council’s philosophical differences be put on hold in order to collectively address the clear and present dangers of COVID-19.
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Try refreshing your browser, or RANSOM: Toronto s COVID Budget a start for pandemic recovery Back to video
Generally, the City of Toronto accurately predicts where revenue will come from to cover operating and capital costs each year. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the picture has never been less clear.
A week before the launch of a city budget that councillors are calling an “unprecedented fiscal challenge,” a new Toronto home sales report is offering a glimmer of hope of the land transfer tax that can be reaped from the boom.