Owning a home with no one living in it could soon come with a penalty in Toronto.
"[The Toronto City] Council could impose a one per cent tax on vacant homes at the start of next year as a way to help ease the city’s affordable housing crisis and raise revenue during a looming economic recovery from COVID-19," according to an article by Jennifer Pagliaro.
"Residential property owners would be required to make a declaration each year by the deadline and could be subject to a city audit to verify whether the home is vacant or not," reports Pagliaro.
The city expects a one percent tax to generate between $55 million to $66 million (all figures Canadian dollars) a year, but the main goal of the tax is to reduce the number of vacant properties, contributing to the affordability of the housing stock around the city. The expected revenue figures are modeled on the example of Vancouver, which approved a similar vacancy tax in 2016.
Read the full story: Toronto vacant home tax of one per cent could be in place at the start of next year, says city staff
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