Town of Pelham wants GST on land purchases, and provincial land tax, handed over as property tax system isn't enough
The Town of Pelham wants the provincial and federal governments to direct tax money collected on land purchases back to the municipality for increasing infrastructure needs.
The feds collect the GST, and the province collects a land transfer tax.
Councillor Kevin Ker says Toronto is preparing a land transfer tax, on top of the existing taxes, due to lack of provincial funding for infrastructure. "We have a provincial government that's proposing to send a cheque out to every person in this province that's going to total $3-billion, which, in my mind, means there's money in their coffers that they have found a way to redistribute."
Other municipalities, including Port Colborne, are on board with this.
However, Councillor Wayne Olsen opposes, saying there is only one taxpayer, and this only moves money from one pocket to the other. "First of all, the GST is a tax on goods and services, and it's a redistribution of something that is not intended for municipalities, and for what we're doing. For a long time, we only had a tax on goods."
The municipalities on board with this have sent letters to the Prime Minister, Premier and other government officials.
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