New Poll Shows Mississauga And Other “905” Region Residents Strongly Opposed To Municipal Land Transfer Tax
Posted by: Toronto Real Estate Admin / Category: Toronto Realtor
New Poll Shows Mississauga And Other 905 Region Residents Strongly Opposed To Municipal Land Transfer Tax
TORONTO,
December 4, 2012 – In light of new
polling results that show strong opposition, specifically among Mississauga and
other “905” region residents, to municipal land transfer taxes, REALTORS® are
calling on the City of Mississauga to shelve its current consideration of a
municipal land transfer tax.
“This poll shows that the public understands that
land transfer taxes are the wrong way for municipalities to solve their
financial challenges. This type of tax
creates more problems than it solves. ” said Ann Hannah, President of the Toronto
Real Estate Board, which represents 35,000 REALTORS® across the Greater Toronto
Area, including more than 5,000 in Mississauga.
The poll was conducted by Ipsos Reid in November
2012 and found:
·
77 per cent of Mississauga residents, and 83
percent of all 905 residents combined, are opposed to the imposition of a
municipal land transfer, in their municipality, to offset municipal deficits or
to put towards increased spending on infrastructure and other city programs;
·
89 per cent of all 905 region residents
planning to purchase a home in the next two years are more likely to purchase
outside Toronto specifically to avoid paying the Toronto Land Transfer Tax.
·
70 per cent of Toronto residents planning to
purchase a home in the next two years are more likely to purchase outside
Toronto specifically to avoid paying the Toronto Land Transfer Tax.
“If levied at the same rate as the Province and the
City of Toronto, a Mississauga Land Transfer Tax would cost the buyer of an
average Mississauga detached home about $10,000, payable upfront. It is unfair
to expect people like down-sizing seniors, or young growing families who need
more space, to pay so much more than their fair share”, said Hannah.
The C.D. Howe Institute recently released an
analysis of the Toronto Land Transfer Tax, which shows that this tax has hurt
Toronto’s economy by dampening home sales by 16 per cent. In addition, the Ipsos Reid poll found that
25 per cent of the people who recently purchased a home in Toronto would have
spent their land transfer tax money on furnishings or appliances, if they had
not had to give it to the City, and 21 per cent would have spent it on
renovations.
“Housing sales create jobs because when people move
they spend money on things like renovations, movers, appliances, and
furnishings. The research has proven
that municipal land transfer taxes dampen home sales. Every housing sale that would be lost as a
result of a municipal land transfer tax would risk Mississauga jobs,” added
Hannah.
These
are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between November 24th
and 29th, 2012, on behalf of the Toronto Real Estate Board. For this survey a
sample of 1,112 residents of the GTA from Ipsos’ Canadian online panel was
interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics
to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population
according to Census data and to provide results approximate the sample
universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls are measured using a
credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/-
3.4 percentage points of all residents in the GTA region. The credibility
interval will be larger for sub-groupings of this population. All sample
surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited
to coverage error, and measurement error.
For information about Buyer Representation Agreements
(BRA) visit www.BRAFirst.ca
For Media/Public Inquiries: Mary Gallagher, Senior
Manager Media Relations.
Toronto
Real Estate Board 1400 Don Mills Road Toronto, ON M3B 3N1, Office: (416)
443-8158, Email:maryg@trebnet.com
Greater Toronto REALTORS are passionate about their work.
They adhere to a strict Code of Ethics and share a state-of-the-art Multiple
Listing Service. Serving over 35,000 Members in the Greater Toronto Area,
the Toronto Real Estate Board is Canadas largest real estate board. Greater
Toronto Area open house listings are available on www.TorontoRealEstateBoard.com
Article source: http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/market_news/release_market_updates/news2012/nr_treb_MLTT_campaign_1212.htm
Tags: Toronto Realtor