Miller messed up

[BMironov]

Hello,Toronto residents all heard about controversy around new proposed taxes that mayor want to implement. He`s got refusal from council and now he wants it again.

Ontario Land transfer tax is a beast of its own. Do we need two of those?

No other Canadian jurisdiction has two home buying taxes.

Homes for sale in Toronto would be less marketable than those outside of Toronto. This could impact your property value.

Take action:
http://www.nohomebuyingtax.com/

 

[BMironov]

Toronto Star:Miller messed up, says Hazel McCallion (Sep 19, 2007)
http://www.thestar.com/article/258098

QUOTE Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion says the criticism Toronto`s mayor is facing over community centre cutbacks is the result of not doing his homework before proposing new taxes to solve the budget crisis.
...
"I told David Miller your taxes last year should have been 5 to 6 per cent (not the 3.8 per cent passed by council)," McCallion said.

"I will not promise my citizens that I will keep taxes at a certain rate. I don`t know how you can do it, unless you cut services, and (people) don`t want their services cut."


Some facts about proposed tax from Toronto Real Estate Board:
http://www.nohomebuyingtax.com/media_cente...ality_check.pdf

Toronto Star:
Mayor`s game plan full of holes (Sep 14, 2007)
http://www.thestar.com/article/256558

QUOTE Mayor David Miller`s launch yesterday of a campaign for "a fair tax plan for Toronto."
...
"We heard from realtors," Miller said in a jab at the Toronto Real Estate Board, which opposes imposing the land transfer tax. "Now we`re going to hear from real Torontonians."
...
He announced a website, www.fairtaxes.ca, where citizens can go to vote for the new taxes. He didn`t say how he plans to stop bogus citizens – real estate agents, Board of Trade members and other such "unworthies" – from accessing the site to give their unwelcome views on higher taxes.
...
He announced no strategy yesterday to put pressure on provincial candidates to obtain more Toronto funding. These items were also missing from the mayor`s campaign launch:
- No announcement of savings or efficiency measures.
- No launch of a group of "waste busters" to report on city waste.
- No cuts to councillors` perks or 9 per cent salary hike.
- No long-term financing plan to confront the $575 million annual shortfall.

The mayor was asked whether curbing councillor frills such as municipal golf course and zoo passes, and generous office expenses – an issue that infuriates the very citizens who the mayor hopes will lobby their councillors to vote in support of his higher taxes – wasn`t one way to find the $700,000 needed to halt Monday closings at the community centres.

Miller replied: "The best way is to vote for the taxes."

 

[BMironov]

Hello everyone,

I sent my email to Toronto Council via www.NoHomeBuyingTax.com and in just a couple of hours got the following response:

QUOTE Thanks. The Toronto Real Estate Board is continuing to work hard to prevent this tax from being imposed. The more people the politicians hear from the better, and the sooner the better. The City Council vote on this is scheduled for October 22, but it could happen much sooner. Please encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to visit www.NoHomeBuyingTax.com , which makes it easy for them to also send in their opinions.

Regards,
Mauro Ritacca
Manager, Government Relations
Toronto Real Estate Board
416-443-8000 ext. 8043


And here are 2 more replys:
From Councillor Del Grande

QUOTE Thank you for the email expressing concerns with the new taxes in Toronto. From listening to or watching Council debates, you may already know that I am continually opposed to tax increases.

In November of 2006, Torontonians voted to re-elect Mayor David Miller. The new taxes are proposed by the Mayor and like-minded Councillors.

Miller and company quietly introduced a BED TAX of $75 per hospital and student resident bed? More are in the background.br />
How many more taxes can the city endure?

Ask this question. Why as the most qualified member of council a Chartered Accountant with 20 years of budgeting experience am I not allowed to be on the budget committee?

Please contact Mayor Miller directly, to express your concerns:

[email protected]
416-397-2489 (T)
416-696-3687 (F)

And from Councillor Joe Mihevc
QUOTE Thank you very much for your email. I appreciate hearing from you and applaud your outreach and sense of civic engagement.

I too am very concerned about the future of our city and the possible gutting of the services that make our city great. I further believe that the land transfer tax and the vehicle registration fee are the least harmful tools available to the City of Toronto raise the needed revenue for this city to succeed.

I oppose the closing of community centres and libraries, and the reduction of public services. I understand however, that we need to find a way of funding them, especially in light of the failure of the provincial government to address the downloading that has ccurred over the last decade.

I will be voting in support of the new tax tools and the reversal of the impending cuts. This to me is the fair and sensible thing to do for the following reasons:
-A land transfer tax is a key part of the solution to Toronto`s financial challenges.
-The land transfer tax is a fair and sustainable revenue stream to support essential city services. We will keep our property taxes on annual basis lower in Toronto if we use the land transfer tax. This will leave more money in the hands of the public and help the economy. That`s why I support the land transfer tax.
-The City of Toronto`s house is in order and all creative solutions have been considered.
-A Toronto land transfer tax won`t hurt those who least can afford it, such as first-time buyers and seniors. In fact, the current proposal protects seniors, renters and those on fixed incomes from the impact of double-digit property tax increases.
-Introducing the land transfer tax will keep annual property taxes low and leave more money in the hands of the public which in turn helps the economy.
-Using this tax will to relieve pressure on annual property tax assessment will also lower the carrying costs of a new home. This is another reason why people outside the real estate industry support this tax.
-Some say with the proposed Toronto land transfer tax, Toronto would have the highest land transfer taxes in Canada and the second highest in North America, this is simply NOT TRUE.
-Provincial action is also required to address Toronto`s financial challenges. The provincial government must adequately support Toronto.

Thanks for letting your voice be heard. It is important that City Council get this right.

Joe Mihevc

 

[BMironov]

Toronto Star:Ruling overturns library closings (Oct 16, 2007)
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/267222

QUOTE David Miller can only hope his luck changes. And soon.

In the latest blow to the Toronto mayor, an arbitrator has ruled the city`s library board was wrong to unilaterally close branches on Sundays as part of his cost-cutting plans.
...
City council is supposed to reconsider the mayor`s tax scheme next Monday, and Miller has been furiously lobbying. He may not be to blame for the library board problem, but his council allies concede that yesterday`s news isn`t making their quest for votes any easier.

 

[mike55]

Although have not invested in Toronto, I do reside here.

I just fired my email off as well, thanks for the motivation.

Mike

 

[DonCampbell]

Thanks for the leadership on this subject. As investors we need to be politically active to make sure our business environments are stable.

Investors and REIN Members have already had an impact on issues such as: Secondary Suites, Rent Controls, Ontario Landlord & Tenant Act, Alberta`s Royalty Review and many more important subjects. I urge us all to send in our comments to show the Mayor how off base he really is on this increased tax.

Make Your Voice heard, use the links above that Boris has provided us.

 

[bluerockgroup]

Done and Done! Although I do not have any investments there as well, I can`t say what the future will hold so I dropped a couple email off as well.

Thanks Team!
-Grant

 

[BMironov]

QUOTE (DonCampbell @ Oct 17 2007, 10:27 AM) Thanks for the leadership on this subject. As investors we need to be politically active to make sure our business environments are stable.

Investors and REIN Members have already had an impact on issues such as: Secondary Suites, Rent Controls, Ontario Landlord & Tenant Act, Alberta`s Royalty Review and many more important subjects. I urge us all to send in our comments to show the Mayor how off base he really is on this increased tax.

Make Your Voice heard, use the links above that Boris has provided us.

I remember on one of the Toronto seminars Don said that there is a ratio of 1:600 how politicians see any voice from "the masses". I mean if you send your letter, then it counts as 600 people`s opinion. If we have at least 400 REIN Members living in GTA area then it mans we can be counted as 240,000 residents!



Toronto Real Estate Board conducted poll and 62% responders are against new Land transfer tax.
http://www.thestar.com/article/267176

Miller sees it as almost 40% "who is not sure or favour new tax".

 

[markl]

I actually had a lengthy conversation with my realtor about what an opportunity this would create for savvy investors and it might let me pick up a nice principal residence in the meantime with out a bidding war. There is something we should go after who do we complain to about the blind bidding system in Ontario.

But Alas I too have written my council and the mayor.

Mark Loeffler

 

[BMironov]

Toronto Sun:Mayor dismisses savings plan (Oct 18, 2007)
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/.../18/4585172.php

QUOTE When asked in a press scrum yesterday what he thought of the $440.9-million in cost savings and revenue fixes set out in my column this past Sunday, Mayor David Miller was completely dismissive.
...
Our plan was an attempt to show there is fat in City Hall that could offset the $356 million city officials claim will be raised from the controversial new City of Toronto Act taxes, if approved at council next week.
...
That said, since he admitted we`d proposed so many things -- some 22 items were in our package in fact -- why the devil would Miller hone in on just two of the items?
...
For the record, the two proposals he referred to -- raising residential property taxes by a total of 6% and using $90 million of the $245-million Hydro note due in December -- would amount to an extra $123 million extra next year.

Our mayor neglected to mention the biggest ticket item -- reducing council`s generous fair wage policy that dictates any company wanting to do business with the city pay close to union wages. We proposed cutting the average fair wage of $42.58/hr. by $5 for a savings of $123-million.

He also did not comment on our proposal to eliminate the 2.25% wage hikes for merit and overtime over and above the 3.25% cost of living increase given to all city employees this year. That amounted to $86 million in savings.
...
What I clearly said was the city is due $245 million from a $980-million loan to Toronto Hydro at the end of this year. That money will be put into a Strategic Infrastructure Fund to pay for the waterfront, the Spadina subway and the mayor`s environmental projects. We proposed taking the $90-million -- and only the $90-million -- that will be used to fund the mayor`s pet climate change initiatives and instead use it to reduce the deficit hole.

Obviously there is some miscommunication in city council. One side is eager to implement new taxes. Another side is offering solution to savings bigger than proposed taxes. It does not look like some one on the top run city as a business. Just my humble opinion.

 

[BMironov]

Toronto Star:Finally, Miller does right thing (Oct 19, 2007)
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/268440

QUOTE That it is. Finally.Yes, the mayor had to be dragged to this position, huffing and puffing. Yes, he should have done this months ago, instead of dismissing the advice of so many, including his own senior bureaucrats.

Yes, he succumbed only when it became obvious that the public – and the councillors whose votes he needed – would accept nothing less. And, yes, he has still to address the simple but iconic matter of councillors` perks.

But he`s done the right thing in securing the likes of Larry Tanenbaum (Maple Leafs sports empire), real estate leader Blake Hutcheson, Direct Energy`s Paul Massara and economist Jim Stanford to sit on the panel. Ex-York University president Lorna Marsden and Rahul Bhardwaj, lawyer and community services Mr. Everywhere, round out the panel.

They`re a good mix of youthful experience and business savvy. None can be considered a critic of the mayor, likely a matter of concern for some. In fact Hutcheson and Tanenbaum have sat on Miller`s economic advisory committee, making them generally supportive of the mayor.

But they`re people not easily cowed into watering down observations to make them palatable to the mayor. And, no doubt, they understand that the entire city will be watching and waiting. They may have been asked to do a quick study and report by February, but their work had better be thorough if it is to be greeted with any credibility on the street.

 

[BMironov]

Toronto Star:Bottled water tax idea faces obstacles (Nov 22, 2007)
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/278874

Too costly, bureaucratic for city to administer, critics say, and the plan may not even be legal

QUOTE Toronto`s latest attempt to tap into new revenue with a bottled-water tax is likely to be a washout.

Given the number of retailers that sell bottled water, collecting the taxes would be a logistical challenge.

And it`s questionable whether the city even has the power to do so.
...
Mayor David Miller committed to get the proposal on the agenda at executive committee, Saundercook said. Miller pledged to support a staff review of whether "the measures are appropriate and legal." It will considered at Monday`s meeting.

Under the new City of Toronto Act, the city has more powers to levy its own taxes, but the act clearly prohibits sales taxes other than on alcohol, tobacco or entertainment, such as concert tickets.

 

[Kyoung]

Thank you all for the postings.

I have a problem, can you please throw some advice this way.

I bought a pre-construction condo in toronto, ready in 2009. I have 15% paid down. Here`s what`s keeping me up:
- Does it mean that I`ll have to pay the toronto LTT?
- What to do?
Before this realization, I was planning to either sell it or to move in, then rent my current condo (half paid down). Now, the selling option is fading with the new LTT... it is that bad, isn`t it? Would Miller at least allow us to increase the rent???

My goal was to live in a townhouse but with 2 condos, I can hardly mortgage both. I am afraid that my personal belize is fading as well.

The thought that is annoying me "Dans quel galere je me suis fourre"... In english, "what a mess I walked into"

 

[markl]

Kyle,

What is the value of your condo? If it is less than $400k than for the person buying your condo it will probably be their first home therefore will not have to pay land tfr tax on it.

Just a thought.

Regards,

Mark Loeffler
www.homeownersoon.com

 

[Kyoung]

thanks Mark. Yes you are right, the condos are averaging 230. I was getting panicky but once I jot down some main points, it got better.

Thanks again
Kim