(Victoria is not noted as a separate 'cost', rather 'average' in article. With the 'region' segmented, 13 empires wanna bet its higher?)
The real reason homes in Canada's big cities are unaffordable
Government taxes and charges add $644,000 to price of average new Vancouver home, study says
".....In other cities – Abbotsford, Victoria, Kelowna, Regina, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa-Gatineau – homebuyers paid an average $230,000 extra on a new house because of limits on supply driven by regulations, says the report.
The study looks at how charges to home developers and taxes on existing housing affect the operation of the housing market and comes up with four key reforms.
Perhaps the most obviously welcome to homebuyers is the recommendation to eliminate or reduce land transfer taxes.
LTTs bring in a lot of money. Toronto, the only city in Ontario allowed to impose its own land transfer tax, collected $730 million in 2018, representing more than 5% of that year’s operating budget."
"“These LTTs have a high cost to society because the money raised by government creates a relatively large change in selling and buying behaviour.” The study estimates the economic harm amounts to $5.65 for every dollar of government tax revenue generated by LTT.
Instead, cities should rely on property taxes from housing for funding municipal government services, such as parks and fire services akin to a user fee, the report says. Reductions or deferrals on these taxes aimed at helping people in need could be replaced by income-tested supports that people can use for any kind of housing cost." https://financialpos...re-unaffordable
Edited by VIResident, 13 November 2020 - 06:52 AM.