City hall's idea a house of horror
By MYKE THOMAS, HOMES EDITOR, Calgary Sun
Just when you think city hall has dished up all the silliness it can, the bureaucrats ladle out more.
As reported by the Sun's Rick Bell yesterday the latest idea is for property buyers to help carry the cost of affordable housing by slapping additional costs onto home purchases.
It's actually two dumb ideas -- the first is to add a development levy on new and redeveloped properties in Calgary or increase the land transfer fee paid on real estate deals.
As Bell wrote, it has the potential of adding upwards of $6,000 to the cost of a home, though the plan has been sent back for further study.
Here's a message for the bureaucrats and others who would support these new taxes: Give your heads a shake and start living in the real world instead of coming up with ridiculous job justification ideas.
Don't get me wrong -- homelessness is a serious problem and is not going to get better in the immediate future without time and effort devoted to it.
But charging extra fees for real estate transactions -- no matter what those fees pay for -- is discrimination.
If Calgarians are going to be forced to help fund something, then all Calgarians should participate, not just those building, buying or selling a house or any other real estate property.
Not only is it unfair to builders, developers, buyers and sellers, it further adds to the cost of housing in Calgary and that is something this city cannot afford.
Calgary has gone from being one of the most affordable, and therefore one of the most attractive cities to call home, to being the second-most expensive, and therefore less desirable cities to live in Canada.
Part of that is due to the great migration to Calgary three years ago, which drove up housing prices as demand outstripped supply, but those working at city hall can also take a lot of blame.
Continually increasing development levies, property taxes, parking fees (based on a draconian parking policy), additional charges for recycling and all the other taxes bureaucrats and politicians hand out like candy at Halloween have greatly added to the cost of living here.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier defends the city's taxing mentality by saying it takes money to run a city, which is true, but here's a message for the mayor: It also takes money to run a household and with the exception of you and the other members of council, I don't know of anyone getting a raise in wages this year, so we're making do with what we've got. You should give it a try.
The Calgary housing market -- new and re-sale -- is only now starting to return to a sustainable level of activity after three volatile years.
And making homeownership more expensive isn't going to help. Fortunately, this idea needs the approval of the Alberta government, which has a history of not being as silly as Calgary's bureaucrats.
Mr. Stelmach, shoot down this idea.
Just when you think city hall has dished up all the silliness it can, the bureaucrats ladle out more.
As reported by the Sun's Rick Bell yesterday the latest idea is for property buyers to help carry the cost of affordable housing by slapping additional costs onto home purchases.
It's actually two dumb ideas -- the first is to add a development levy on new and redeveloped properties in Calgary or increase the land transfer fee paid on real estate deals.
As Bell wrote, it has the potential of adding upwards of $6,000 to the cost of a home, though the plan has been sent back for further study.
Here's a message for the bureaucrats and others who would support these new taxes: Give your heads a shake and start living in the real world instead of coming up with ridiculous job justification ideas.
Don't get me wrong -- homelessness is a serious problem and is not going to get better in the immediate future without time and effort devoted to it.
But charging extra fees for real estate transactions -- no matter what those fees pay for -- is discrimination.
If Calgarians are going to be forced to help fund something, then all Calgarians should participate, not just those building, buying or selling a house or any other real estate property.
Not only is it unfair to builders, developers, buyers and sellers, it further adds to the cost of housing in Calgary and that is something this city cannot afford.
Calgary has gone from being one of the most affordable, and therefore one of the most attractive cities to call home, to being the second-most expensive, and therefore less desirable cities to live in Canada.
Part of that is due to the great migration to Calgary three years ago, which drove up housing prices as demand outstripped supply, but those working at city hall can also take a lot of blame.
Continually increasing development levies, property taxes, parking fees (based on a draconian parking policy), additional charges for recycling and all the other taxes bureaucrats and politicians hand out like candy at Halloween have greatly added to the cost of living here.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier defends the city's taxing mentality by saying it takes money to run a city, which is true, but here's a message for the mayor: It also takes money to run a household and with the exception of you and the other members of council, I don't know of anyone getting a raise in wages this year, so we're making do with what we've got. You should give it a try.
The Calgary housing market -- new and re-sale -- is only now starting to return to a sustainable level of activity after three volatile years.
And making homeownership more expensive isn't going to help. Fortunately, this idea needs the approval of the Alberta government, which has a history of not being as silly as Calgary's bureaucrats.
Mr. Stelmach, shoot down this idea.
Labels: New Home
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