With Toronto City Coun­cil expected to make impor­tant deci­sions on City ser­vices and finances soon, REALTORS are call­ing on Coun­cil to move ahead with get­ting the City’s finances in order and repeal­ing the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax.

“We say no to the sta­tus quo. Toron­to­ni­ans elected this City Coun­cil with a clear man­date to get the City’s finances in order and change the way City Hall oper­ates, includ­ing repeal­ing the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax. The pub­lic does not expect to see Coun­cil­lors’ con­vic­tions crum­ble when deci­sion time approaches,” said Richard Sil­ver, Pres­i­dent of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).

REALTORS are con­tact­ing City Coun­cil to tell them to move ahead with the City’s ser­vice review process and are call­ing on the pub­lic to also con­tact City Coun­cil by vis­it­ing www​.NoHome​Buy​ing​Tax​.com.

“The pub­lic spoke loudly and clearly in last year’s munic­i­pal elec­tion. It is clear that they want change from City Hall and that they want the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax gone. We are mak­ing sure that the pub­lic is aware that now is the time for City Coun­cil to take deci­sive action to improve the City’s finances,” said Silver.

A recent pub­lic opin­ion poll con­ducted by Ipsos Pub­lic Affairs found that 75% of Toron­to­ni­ans sup­port Mayor Ford’s com­mit­ment to repeal the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax. Even when asked to con­sider the City’s bud­get short­fall, the public’s sup­port remains very strong, with 68% indi­cat­ing that City Coun­cil should follow-through with the repeal of the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax.

“Toron­to­ni­ans want the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax abol­ished; they don’t want excuses. Unfor­tu­nately, some City Coun­cil­lors are still tar­get­ing home buy­ers and would pre­fer to keep this tax. Get­ting the City’s finances in order requires com­pre­hen­sive efforts; it can’t and shouldn’t be done by rely­ing on the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax, which unfairly tar­gets one seg­ment of Toron­to­ni­ans: home­buy­ers,” added Silver.

REALTORS are also telling City Coun­cil that the Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax impacts Toronto’s economy.

“The Toronto Land Trans­fer Tax is a job killer: eco­nomic analy­ses have shown that about 40,000 Toronto jobs rely specif­i­cally on the eco­nomic activ­ity that is gen­er­ated when peo­ple buy and sell homes in the City. For resale hous­ing alone, spin-off spend­ing related to home buy­ing, on things like ren­o­va­tions and mov­ing ser­vices, pumped $1.4 bil­lion into Toronto’s econ­omy last year,” said Silver.

REALTORS also believe that get­ting the City’s finances in order is an impor­tant step to ensur­ing the long-term sus­tain­abil­ity of Toronto’s qual­ity of life.

“Home buy­ers want com­mu­ni­ties with a high quality-of-life, so REALTORS under­stand the impor­tance of munic­i­pal ser­vices. How­ever, just as any house­hold must review its bud­get from time-to-time, City Hall must get its finances in order,” added Silver.

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Con­tact the Jef­frey Team for more infor­ma­tion – 416−388−1960

Lau­rin & Natalie Jef­frey are Toronto Real­tors with Cen­tury 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these arti­cles, they just repro­duce them here for peo­ple
who are inter­ested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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