A proposed land transfer tax would be SA国际影视传媒渞eally unfairSA国际影视传媒� to home buyers in Yellowknife, says the president of the Yellowknife Real Estate Board.
Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod said the government is crunching the numbers on a new land transfer tax that would see lower rates applied to homes of lesser value. SA国际影视传媒淲e want to try to get a product that's done right,SA国际影视传媒� he told Yellowknifer Thursday..
SA国际影视传媒淵ellowknife has half of the population base in the territory, and the highest real estate costs, so we would be bearing the brunt of that,SA国际影视传媒� Rod Stirling said Thursday.
SA国际影视传媒淩eally, it would be a Yellowknife land tax.SA国际影视传媒�
In his Feb. 8 budget address, Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod said in 2018-19, the government SA国际影视传媒渨ill be developing detailed proposalsSA国际影视传媒� for a land transfer tax as one measure to offset some of the territory's falling revenues.
To reduce the impact on lower-income home owners, said McLeod, the tax rate would be lower on homes of lesser value.
The finance department estimates a land transfer tax would bring in about $3.1 million a year, but the minister could explain in an interview Thursday how officials came to that figure.
A land transfer tax does not appear in the main estimates of the proposed 2018-19 budget.
On Tuesday, Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart, pressed McLeod to answer whether certain parts of the territory would be taxed differently from others.
SA国际影视传媒淚'll put it plainly and not hypothetically,SA国际影视传媒� said Testart. SA国际影视传媒淚s this new tax going to disproportionately affect residents of the City of Yellowknife?SA国际影视传媒�
To this, McLeod responded, SA国际影视传媒淚'll answer plainly: the tax may affect those communities that have higher real estate costs than other communities across the Northwest Territories.SA国际影视传媒�
McLeod was not able to provide a time-line for the roll-out of a land transfer tax.
Talks still need to happen with other MLAs and members of the public, he said Thursday, and the tax may require new legislation.
SA国际影视传媒淚t probably won't make it into this year's budget,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
Ideally, said McLeod, a land transfer tax would be implemented SA国际影视传媒渢oward the end of this assembly.SA国际影视传媒�
McLeod said the new tax SA国际影视传媒渕ay play a factorSA国际影视传媒� in people's decision to move to Yellowknife, but that it would not seem so burdensome if amortized over a 20-year mortgage.
Testart said Thursday that he is against a land transfer tax that would SA国际影视传媒渁ffect Yellowknife primarily, and the other tax base centres generally, and the middle class entirely.SA国际影视传媒�
However, the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning, of which Testart is deputy chair, was supportive of the tax back in January.
In a Jan. 18 letter to McLeod obtained by Yellowknifer, committee chair Tom Beaulieu, the MLA for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, wrote that the committee was SA国际影视传媒渟urprisedSA国际影视传媒� not to see revenue from a land transfer tax reflected in the 2018-19 budget.
SA国际影视传媒淢embers support the implementation of this modest revenue measure,SA国际影视传媒� Beaulieu wrote in the letter to which the other committee members are copied.
Testart said he was under the impression in January that the land transfer tax would represent a harmonization of existing fees, and that it would simplify the home-buying process.
He did not understand it to be a SA国际影视传媒渞evenue grab for governmentSA国际影视传媒� that would SA国际影视传媒渟queeze the middle class and those attempting to enter the middle class.SA国际影视传媒�
SA国际影视传媒淲e aren't political parties here,SA国际影视传媒� said Testart. SA国际影视传媒淲e review things as standing committees and we're all independent at the end of the day.
SA国际影视传媒淪ometimes the correspondence committees send can be different from what individual members say.SA国际影视传媒�
Testart said the picture he has of the land transfer tax is SA国际影视传媒渜uite murky,SA国际影视传媒� but so far it seems contrary to the government's commitment to reduce the cost of living in the Northwest Territories.
In 2017 there were 773 land title transfers in Yellowknife, said Stirling, but a number of those were re-registrations for reasons such as divorce, death and marriage.
The Coldwell-Banker broker estimates that about 600 of those title transfers represent actual sales.
Stirling said a land transfer tax could discourage people from buying homes in Yellowknife, which he called SA国际影视传媒淭oronto of the North.SA国际影视传媒�
Stirling wondered why the government would add to the cost of buying a home, rather than look for ways to make housing more affordable.
SA国际影视传媒淲e're one of the most expensive cities in Canada, let's not make it more expensive,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
SA国际影视传媒淟et's make it attractive, not detract from moving here.SA国际影视传媒�
