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CITY HALL IS SMOKING & INHALING |
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'SOCK IT TO US" BUDGET BLEEDS TORONTONIANS' WALLETS: By LINDA LEATHERDALE Now I know they're inhaling at Toronto City Hall. Mayor David Miller must have been in an hallucinatory state to dare hit taxpayers with what critics argue is a whopping 10% tax hike, though he wants us to believe it's only 4%. He even had the gall to suggest his tax hike is a mere 25 cents a day for the average Joe. Mayor Miller - most families don't have a quarter to spare. Many now face losing their homes with bailiff servers working overtime handing out foreclosure notices. Many face job losses with another 71,000 layoffs in Ontario last month. And some are even throwing in the towel with bankruptcies soaring. This is a time for tax relief and City Hall to reign in its big spending ways - just as most cash-strapped families have been forced to do. But no, Miller is hiking spending by $500 billion, with his operating budget climbing to $8.7 billion - while he fleeces taxpayers' pockets even more. It's estimated the average homeowner, with a house valued at $387,000, will pay an additional $89 in property taxes this year. Meanwhile, his 4% hike comes as home values begin a nasty deflationary cycle, with average prices falling from $404,202 a year ago to $364,416 las month. If the recession of the 1990s is any indication, the market could face six years of plunging prices, before the freefall subsides. If some doomsayers are right, the deep deflationary spiral could last a lot longer, meaning misery for families who were counting on rising home equity to bail them out, as Canadian households struggle with record debtloads now at $1.3 trillion. Even the Bank of Canada is warning of rising foreclosures - while Ottawa has removed $75-billion in insured mortgage liabilities from banks' books. In other words, taxpayers are on the hook when people who went in with less than the conventional 20% downpayment can no longer pay and lose their homes. Outspoken City councillor Denzil-Minnan-Wong says don't be fooled by Millers' line it's only a 4% hike. "We believe the tax increase is 10%, and that's what we should be talking about," said Minnan-Wong. "Those are the fees and charges that we've been seeing charged to the taxpayers and families across the city." For example, water bills are going up by 9%, and new vehicle registration and garbage collections fees are heading higher, too. Then there's Mayor Miller's hated municipal land transfer tax - which will lift $175-million from new home buyers' pockets if they decide to make the plunge into Toronto's real estate market. The tax burden will be even worse if politicians say yes to GST/PST harmonization, which push up the price of new homes and many costs associated with buying a home. Even heating bills and children's clothing costs will jump with a new 13% tax bite. More misery for cash-strapped families. The only good news is City Hall decided to freeze development charges, which have been going through the roof and adding to the cost of home ownership. Everywhere I go, I hear people grumbling and swearing when the next election comes around, they won't be fooled again. But don't count on it. Toronto has a long track record of voting in big-spending silly socialists, who must be inhaling if they believe families can afford to pay more. Listen to Linda Leatherdale with popular Toronto morning man Bill Carroll on Newstalk 1010 CFRB, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 a.m. |
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What are our leaders smoking? By LINDA LEATHERDALE The Beatles' song Taxman sums it up: "If you drive a car, I'll tax the street If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet" Just what are they smoking at Toronto City Hall? Mayor David Miller and his silly socialists are planning a 4% hike in property taxes - when bankruptcies are skyrocketing, people are losing jobs, our housing market is crashing and bailiff servers are working overtime delivering foreclosure notices. Torontonians are already burdened by one the highest property tax regimes in the industrialized world, and if that burden wasn't bad enough, Miller slapped Toronto homes with his hated municipal land transfer tax - meaning if you buy home in Toronto you pay two land transfer taxes, one to City Hall, the other to Queen's Park. Meanwhile, home sales have plunged by more than 40%, with only 1,106 sales last month, down from 2,128 a year ago, while average prices fell from $404,202 to $364,416, as a global meltdown hits here, too. With property taxes now tied to real estate values under Ontario's flawed Market Value Assessment (MVA), taxpayers could argue: Where's my tax break? Bottom line is a 4% tax hike outpaces inflation, and is wrong, wrong, wrong. This is a time to give overly-indebted, cash-strapped families a break - not nail the coffin shut with higher taxes. On top of this insanity, our leaders want to harmonize the hated 5% GST with Ontario's 8% PST (provincial sales tax). That would mean a new 13% tax on a number of services that don't get hit with sales taxes, including real estate fees, new homes and home heating bills - when Ontario's personal bankruptcy rate just jumped 50%. Back in 1990, when Canadians got hit with the GST, we became the only country in the world to pay two sales tax regimes, each with their own weird rules and regulations. Only Alberta was exempt from this insanity because the province does not have a sales tax. Small businesses burdened by this administrative nightmare would get a break with harmonization, but consumers already finding it tough to pay bills will pay more. When will our leaders get it? Consumers account for two-thirds of our economy, we already hand over almost half of our hard-earned pay to cover total taxes, and everywhere we turn we're being nickeled and dimed to death. If Ottawa expects consumers to spend our way out of this mess, give us a bail-out. Give us a tax break, NOW! And I'm talking a tax break bigger than the $50 to $500 a year in relief Ottawa dished out to low and middle-income earners in its recent budget. |
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People without jobs don't buy homes By LINDA LEATHERDALE Canada's Trusted Financial Voice Home sales in the GTA are down almost 50% from a year ago, while Toronto's unemployment rate jumps to 7.8% in January from 7.3% in December during the worst month for job losses in Canada's history. In total, Canada lost 129,000 jobs last month (71,000 in Ontario), with the bulk of the losses being good-paying, full-time private sector jobs held by people aged 25 to 54. (See below for a full report on Leatherdale's job commentary and how to survive a layoff). In the City of Toronto, where Mayor David Miller's municipal land transfer tax is adding to the misery, home sales crashed to only 1,106 properties changing hands, compared to 2,128 in January 2008. Average prices are also in freefall, falling to $364,416 last month, down from $404,202 a year ago. The 905-area is also down with sales at 1,564, compared to 2,947 a year ago, and prices averaged $328,935, down from $352,965 in January 2008. Overall for the GTA, sales fell from 5,075 a year ago to 2,670 and average prices are down from $374,449 to $343,632. The real estate crunch spells bad news for cash-strapped families using rising home equity to help pay the bills. But the price free fall and cheap mortgage is good news for affordability with the cost of carrying a home falling. It's also good for investors sitting in cash waiting to buy up cheap real estate, though most experts agree there's more fallout yet to come. Meanwhile, more and more are renting, which is also good news for investors. "Moderated housing prices combined with low interest rates could present excellent long-term investment and homeownership opportunities for the GTA housing market," commented Maureen O'Neill, president of the Toronto Real Estate Board. TREB's senior manager of market analysis Jason Mercer added there is also more choice in the marketplace. Mercer is confident once a recovery takes hold the market will quickly rebound. Question is when will a recovery take hold? People need jobs to buy home, and they have to be confident about the future. And January's brutal job report just blew an Arctic wind over confidence in Canada. For home prices and sales in your neighbourhood, plus a new report on Toronto's rental market, go to www.torontorealestateboard.com
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