Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Ontario Reverses Course - Won't Extend Municipal Land Transfer Tax

Ontario’s provincial government has reversed its course and has decided it will not extend the power to charge a Municipal Land Transfer Tax to municipalities outside of Toronto, where it already exists.

Source: OREA

“This is a huge win for Ontario’s homeowners and those who dream of one day owning a home. It reaffirms that the Municipal Land Transfer Tax is a bad revenue tool, not just outside Toronto but in it as well,” says Patricia Verge, president of the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA).

OREA led a five-week campaign called Don’t Tax My Dream that saw Realtors and 32,000 members of the public voice their opposition to the spread of the tax province-wide (which we linked to in our previous blogs (here and here) of the last 2 weeks and hopefully contributed in a small way ☺).

“I would like to also acknowledge MPPs on all sides of the legislature who spoke both publicly and privately against the tax,” says Verge. “Your work has helped protect affordable home ownership for future generations.”



This is great news for Ontarians as this potentially saves homebuyers thousands of dollars. Given the weak outlook for the Canadian economy for 2016, with low commodity prices, I think that this is prudent timing for this decision.

Cheers to another strong year in 2016 free of municipal land transfer tax!

Are you relieved at these results? Let us know in the comments.



Russel Lalovich
russel@lalovichrealestate.com
Office: (519) 966-0444
Cell: (519) 995-5620

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