Toronto could hike its vacant home tax as the housing crisis grows
CBC
Toronto councillors could hike the city's vacant home tax at its meeting this week a year after the new fee was introduced.
In a new report, city staff have recommended the tax for having an empty house or condo be pushed from one to three per cent of it's assessed value next year. The proposal lines up with a promise Mayor Olivia Chow made during the spring byelection — one she says will not only help Toronto address its growing housing crisis but help trim its budget deficit too.
"It's important that in the middle of a housing crisis that we don't leave apartments or homes vacant," Chow said a day ahead of the start of the council session.
City council voted in December 2021 to create the tax on vacant properties. The goal was to put pressure on the owners to sell those empty homes or put them on the rental market.
Anyone subject to the tax pays one per cent a year of a home's current assessed market value. That fee applies if a home has been unoccupied for six months in a year or is not used as the owner's principal residence or by "permitted occupants."
Fines for attempting to evade the tax can range from $250 to $10,000.
The city says that by the end of February, it had received approximately 95 per cent compliance as home owners either declared their home occupied or vacant. As of August 1, just over 2,160 homes were declared vacant. The city ultimately deemed a total of 17,400 vacant, meaning their owners had to pay the tax.
There are exemptions to the tax, including if the homeowner is in long-term care, if the property is undergoing repairs or renovations or if vacancy has been caused by the death of the owner.
City staff say that revenues from the first full year of the tax were $54 million, in range of projections made before it launched. Chow said she'd like to see that funding put into a dedicated stream.
"We want to take that money to buy older buildings that we can protect, make them affordable for tenants forever and create affordable housing," she said.
The tax is also one of a number of measures recommended by city staff to help address a $1.5-billion budget deficit this year. Chow stressed the the levy is meant to crack down on real estate speculation that keeps homes off the market long-term.
"I don't apologize for asking speculators ... to pay more," she said.
Coun. Stephen Holyday, who represents Ward 2 Etobicoke Centre, voted against the creation of the vacant home tax. Residents of his ward have expressed frustration with the fee and the complexity of the system to opt-out in order to avoid being charged, he said.
The city is still working its way through a backlog of thousands of homeowners appealing being assessed for the tax. He said the cost to administer the vacant home tax — which is approximately $11 million a year — cuts into the effectiveness of the levy.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.