NOW on Land Transfer Tax

Mayor Miller is now saying he underestimated the tenacity of the Toronto Real Estate Board and his opponents on council and that he ought to have communicated more forcefully with pols being lobbied by business groups.

It’s a breach that council’s free marketers leapt into, knowing full well that most residents lack a basic understanding of how cities work.

“We all say we’re against [provincial social service] downloading,” said Councillor Michael Thompson who voted for deferral during the debate on Monday, July 16. “Yet we’re saying it’s okay to download [more taxes] on the citizens of Toronto.”

Debunking this should have been a slam dunk. Thompson chose not to mention, of course, that property taxes would have to be raised. Such increases, incidentally, put the greatest burden on those least able to pay: tenants pay more proportionately than homeowners for the services they get, a leftover from the days when they weren’t allowed to vote.

And they’re still disenfranchised compared to lobbyists for the Toronto Real Estate Board.

The argument that council can’t implement new taxes because it “wasn’t an election issue” is the height of disingenuous populist BS. I thought selecting people to keep city services running on something more than bubble gum and sarcasm was why we, you know, have elections at all.

See full story in NOW Magazine.