Did you see what I saw yesterday?
If you own a home valued over $1MM dollars, the ‘powers that be’ are considering charging you a new annual tax.
This is not a property tax. This is not an income tax. It’s a tax on you just because you own a home that is valued greater than $1MM. If you live in small town Canada then you have little to worry about.
If you live in Canada’s largest cities then take note.
And if you have been paying attention recently, you would know that a huge percentage of houses in GTA, Vancouver, etc. are valued in excess of that amount. The fact that our homes have increased so much in value isn’t a reflection of our incomes having increased that much. In fact many of our seniors have seen their personal income drop due to retirement, health issues, etc. Covid has caused many of us to lose our incomes and jobs, or seen our incomes reduced. Higher inflation and regular increases in the carbon tax has also reduced our net incomes.
No government would dare to charge a capital gains tax on the sale of our homes. It would be political suicide. But this new talk seems to be pushing the envelope. Is this just a trial-balloon concept or should we expect to be digging deeper into our pockets at the end of the year ahead? Let’s see what happens.
Oh yes, if your mortgage is renewing in the next few months consider getting an approval through me for a new mortgage, where we hold current rates for 120 days. This is one way to hedge your bets on possible interest rate increases this spring.
Martin Charney