Sault to help push forward lobbying effort to allow cities to tax property sales
The City of Sault Ste. Marie is helping to push forward an initiative that could see northern municipalities allowed to introduce their own tax on property sales.
City council passed a resolution Monday to support the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) in its efforts to lobby for the ability to introduce municipal land transfer tax.
"The City of Toronto is the only municipality in the province that is able to do this," said Sandra Hollingsworth, city councillor and FONOM board member. "Toronto has many more revenue-generating tools than the rest of the municipalities. We're just trying to create a fair, even platform."
Toronto has been able to charge its own land transfer tax since 2006. More than a decade later, that same feature hasn't been extended to the rest of the municipalities in the province.
"It's just another tool in a toolbox," said Hollingsworth. "I'm not saying we should use it, I just want to send a message to Doug Ford, we need a lot more revenue generating tools and we need to be treated equal."
But Sault Ste. Marie's real estate board is warning against the push.
While rebates would be granted to first-time home buyers, the president of the board said buyers looking to dip into the market again would be discouraged.
"We are in the middle of an affordable housing crisis," said Tracey Rutkauskas. "City councillors should be focused on making housing more affordable and not looking to hit their residents with thousands of dollars of new taxes on their new dream home."
First-time homebuyers are eligible to receive a maximum of $4,000 rebated from the first $368,000 of the value on eligible homes.
On a year-to-date basis, Sault Ste. Marie's average home price is $267,887. But Rutkauskas said it's rising rapidly, with a nearly 50 per cent increase in just two years.
"This could set a dangerous precedent for affordability," she said. "It does nothing to address the real issue affecting the current housing market, the need for more supply."
Hollingsworth said she recognizes what introducing such a tax in the Sault could mean for potential home buyers. It's why she said if given the chance to vote on it at council, she would vote against it.
"I am just supporting FONOM, being a board member, in giving other municipalities the ability to use this tool," she said.
"It's once again, going back to Doug Ford and saying this is a start of many more requests, to make sure the playing field is equal between Toronto and us."
Hollingsworth said FONOM will be compiling a list of other tools offered to Toronto that is not extended to northern municipalities, with an eventual goal of picking and choosing which ones to lobby the province for.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.