Ontario Hopes Tax on Non-Canadians Buying Toronto Homes Will Temper Prices<br />By IAN AUSTENAPRIL 20, 2017<br />OTTAWA — In a bid to slow the soaring growth of housing prices in the Toronto area, Ontario officials announced several<br />measures on Thursday, including a 15 percent tax on residential buyers who are not residents or citizens of Canada.<br />While Ontario’s premier, Kathleen Wynne, emphasized the need for the 15 percent tax on outside purchasers, similar to one enacted<br />recently in Vancouver, British Columbia, there are no statistics on the number of Toronto houses that have gone to such buyers.<br />"There wasn’t one single thing we could do that would deal with the issues we’re confronting." Political pressure is escalating on Ms. Wynne<br />and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to cool off the Toronto market.<br />On Thursday, the premier said that the high prices were not entirely a bad thing, calling the market boom "the unwanted consequence of a strong<br />economy." British Columbia’s experience does not provide clear evidence of the effectiveness of its 15 percent nonresident buyer’s tax.<br />Because not all of Ontario has experienced a major escalation in house prices, the new tax<br />and some other measures announced on Thursday will apply only to a portion of the province within commuting distance of Toronto.<br />Mindful of Toronto’s large immigrant community with its many house hunters, Ms. Wynne pointedly noted<br />that the new tax would not apply to people who make their home in Ontario.
