Residents confused, angry amid Toronto vacant home tax debacle 

Can you say race-based hiring quotas? Or as they say in the US, affirmative action? SMH

Agree 1000%

exactly, its due to the overpopulation and lack of supply and yet the govt puts the burden on landlords. There will be less landlords that will own properties for investment purposes in the future, which means less supply of rental units, hence the rent rise will accelerate (so i dont know why tenants are cheering on any measures against the landlords_. The gov't is turning the society into a socialist market environment, and everyone will be worst off at the end. People that can't afford housing will suffer from higher rents, those with some wealth would no longer preserve their wealth in Canada. Please don't say Canada is a market driven society, its not. Let's be real. The result of this: Canadians will become poorer and poorer.

Maybe they should just pay the 10k to the city. Thats not a lot of money for someone who owns a house

Or may be it's because tredouce sent billions to Ukraine and isrealie

It's not property tax but utility bills that this is applicable to. Everyone has to pay property tax, vacant or not.

@@CW-rx2js This had to have been applied to my property tax. I don't pay utilities so I don't get a utility bill...they are included in my maintenance fees. Pretty sure it is the proposed rain tax that they want to put on your utility bill. However either way your utility bill and and your property tax bills are sent to your address. Doesn't make any sense why they would send a bill to a vacant home. Also if it is on your utility bill then it would make even less sense. They can see utilities being used at the property. Why would they believe a place is vacant if someone is clearly there using the utilities.

I believe they did it deliberately to mislead homeowners.

Tell me about it.

Well you people keep putting Trudy in parliament you reap what you so

He needs to hire a Sopranos character to 'talk sense' into the homeless person.

well if you don't pay your property taxes then make the city do something them.

Someone I knew had squatters in their house. They literally could do nothing because the squatters could take them to court for harrassment. Cops did absolutely 0. And yet Trudeau wants to protect renters. Lol

You were good until you called this "communism". Nothing about any of this is communism, and when the people running the show see the peasants cry about communism they just laugh and continue screwing us all.

They did send a notifications (at least 2). I filled out the online form and still got this thing.

They have so many ways generating more revenues for the City. Our burden sadly. Torontonians must do something.

I believe someone goes and looks.

They assume it's vacant and it's on you to prove you live in it. It's the system of assuming you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

I don't understand how this "vacant house" bylaw could possibly be legal. It destroys the very notion and principle of what the ownership and private property is.

Yeah, the money saved in paper costs could feed small families!

Bettery yet, vote out Olivia Chow for incompetence.

If you get a wealthy person, they may just pay it. These things seem to be happening the more broke the government gets…

kleung: "more than anything else"? It is NOTHING but a money grab. Notice that they changed the bylaw about allowing rooming houses? The day is coming soon when the police are instructed to come to a home owner, bring a couple of homeless and say from now on they will live in this house because you have too much square footage all for yourself.

bingo.

Of course it is. Everywhere we look and turn someone is ripping us off. Yay trudumb. Canada isn't going to survive another year under his thumb! 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Why can't you sell your vacant home?

Yup. Instead Chow and her team fckd up and have managed to hit about 150,000 people who are living in their homes with VHT and late fees. Lol

This is stealing from Canadian citizens seniors who have just inherited a home.

Jack Layton could speak English and French and every night he ate Chinese

As long as you live on their land, use their money, their banks, eat their food, you belong to them, everything of yours belongs to them you don't own anything.

@@unrealshrimp this is true. nobody actually owns their home

Just try not paying your city taxes and find out if you really own your house. Ask those home owners who have been expropriated if they actually owned their houses.

@@v.j.3029 I own several homes in Ontario and own land on Vancouver island, you don't need to tell me about taxes.

@@unrealshrimp Everything is nationalized - and it becomes the Russia after the October revolution. How easy and fast it is to destroy everything and how hard, if not impossible, it is to restore and rebuild.

I hope you realize this was introduced by John Tory 😂

@@Insomniacdrop not the policy but the mismanagement

@@glintrhmj??? It was his policy and management and it’s just now coming into effect.

@@Insomniacdrop so is John Tory managing this or Olivia Chow im confused?

@@glintrhmj It was him who set this all up… not saying chow is any better but just saying it would be hypocritical to say she is responsible for this.

It is micromanaging...control.

Rich people always cry the most

winter is not more than 6 months.

normally vacancy tax only applies after the house is empty for over a year

Read the law.

​@@MyHandelsMessiahYou could have just said "I don't know.".

@@MyHandelsMessiah I’m waiting for more intelligent answers

OECD estimated in 2021 that USA had over 14 million vacant properties (and 1.3 million in Canada, incidentally). Many USA vacant properties are being taken over by squatters now. Things will get ugly.

@@lynb1022 Yes, but where in the USA do homeowners have to check in with the state to prove they are living in the home they own?

@@rboddington I don't know that they do. I know that many USA DoJ/AGs are implementing other measures to counter their own financialized housing crisis, which is nowhere near as bad as Canada's (their median incomes are higher and median home prices are still under $500K). No sympathy for land-hoarders who buy multiple properties and then just leave them vacant. Homes are for people, not "investors".

So think it's fine that Wall Street investment firms buy up hundreds of new homes in the US and then charge super high rent for those houses and all during a housing crisis?! People buying "investment" properties for dubious airbnb listings need to be stopped, they are screwing up the housing market and pricing regular workers out. This vacant housing tax is brilliant, it means that in large cities where house prices have sky-rocketed, along with rents, vacant homes will not be tolerated(unless you pay the tax.)

I know!!!! I can't believe they're so docile about it....

Ok and...? the law was passed over two years ago, property owners have had plenty of time to perform their due diligence in complying with the law.

Last year they sent out mail, a yellow piece of paper with all the info on it to declare occupancy, nothing this year.....

@@Kr0nicDragon yup… They mention VHT in the small print, with our first property tax bill. Had they made it more obvious by providing the total amount, VHT payment schedule, deadline to declare and the link to the portal…they would have saved themselves a lot of headache. To make matters worse, once the deadline passes there’s no way to declare…not even one day late subject to late fee. The home is automatically declared vacant and VHT taxes applied. However this doesn’t help all the people who declared ahead of the deadline and we’re still hit with VHT.

​@@MyHandelsMessiah they ddn't send anything...no notice of payment, no declaration reminder nothing. And not all of us live on the property, heck we don't even live in Toronto to follow local news. Tenants may be misplacing things for all you know

@@MyHandelsMessiah Some people just like to argue. Seriously. You are defending this? Has it occurred to you that this tax is just wrong to begin with? Mike is 100% right.

People use to call it the land of milk and honey now it's the land of so many taxes.

No ideda on this but i expect it is to cut down on people owning multiple homes that are actually undeclared rental units where tenants pay cash to avoid taxes.

@@joeyt8256 How is filling out a form declaring you live there, even when you don't going to help that?

It's a bylaw, not law.

@@KP-xi4bj It's from the federal government. google Underused Housing Tax.

@Stevean-zo8zk Can the federal govt force Ford to make more cars?

@@samadams7224 "Under the *vacant home tax bylaw* , owners are required to declare occupancy status of their properties every year." - CBC (Apr. 4, 2024)

@@samadams7224 "Effective January 1, 2023, the City of Toronto and the City of Ottawa both passed *bylaws* to introduce a new tax for vacant homes/units." - Sorbara Law (Feb. 2, 2023)

If you leave canada over 6 months, It will affect your Ohip and your Tax. No retiree is leaving for more than 6 months out of the year unless they want complications with either. So no, you can't leave for just over 6 months.

Because the good of society in general trumps your individual property rights when it comes to houses that are not your primary residence. It's 2024, learn what's going on with society

Because Housing is a Human Right under Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and under Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and we need to exercise those rights.

Why is it vacant if it's a livable property? In Toronto, of all places? During a housing shortage? Look at all the houses I can afford meanwhile others are struggling to pay rent just to get by. Pay up or stop buying and not using.

@@lynb1022 your quality of life only relies on yourself and your family sometimes. No free lunch, your benefits from the government are coming from other peoples hardworking. You know how many people in Toronto are homeless? Please bring some of them to your house to exercise their rights.

@@vincentcai1847 no one's suggesting a "free lunch". On the contrary, one of the reasons we have so many homeless now is because *tenants paid their freeloading landlords' mortgages* until they were finally rent-increased out. Landlords will extract wealth from their tenants until there is nothing left to extract. Homes are for PEOPLE, and housing is a human right, not an "investment asset". If it was up to me people who buy *residential property* and just let it sit vacant should have those properties expropriated, not just taxed.

This vacant home tax isn't even close to being a federal issue. Stay on topic.

Except how much time a person spends on their property that they legally own and already pay hefty city taxes on is NOT THEIR BUSINESS. This is a violation of RIGHTS in a democratic country and people are arguing about the logistics and ignoring the elephant in the room!!!

@@averagejane09 the utilities already monitor consumption. They provide your history with your most recent bill. They also work with law enforcement to identify potential grow operations. IMO identifying people who are evading VHT is no different. Having 800,000 home owners declare annually is a stupid idea. People who are Trying to evade VHT are going to submit false declaration anyways, so the city needs to rely on audits anyways.

@@mikec3971 OMG...evade VHT?..People again...this tax should not be happening AT ALL. It is government overreach!!!! THAT is the issue. Not the logistics of it. Your rights are being violated sir.

@@averagejane09 what rights are being violated? Nobody is being prevented from buying a home. Nobody being prevented from buying multiple homes. A lot of cities and countries around the world have VHT, all for the same purpose. I hate taxes and I think Canadians are taxed waaay too much. But the reality is, if you want to live tax free, move to a little island off the grid, give up the comforts of infrastructure and stay away from civilization.

@@mikec3971 That is one extreme to the other. We all pay LOTS of taxes and I pay mine. I see the benefit to paying some taxes. I never said anything about being tax free. But, I would like to be free of government micromanaging and control over every little thing. This is boiling the frog. And as you pointed out we are taxed waaaay too much already. But, there should be plenty to cover things. This is planet earth. It should not be this expensive to live here. To exist. People are losing the one house they have. Where does the line get drawn? And if a person owns a property and ALREADY pays those hefty taxes how much time a person spends on that property is not the government's business. This is control and micromanaging. I can't afford it, but I believe people should have the right to invest in more than one property without the additional taxes upon taxes... under the guise of housing crisis...because so few could do this anyway that I don't believe that is it. I really don't buy that. We have lots of space in this country and if we do have a housing crisis, one has to wonder why. The freedoms and rights I am worried about are where do we draw the line in terms of control. If they wanted to solve the housing crisis, I am not convinced this is the way.

Agreed, they are barking up the wrong tree here. Completely ridiculous tax grab.

Housing is a Human Right under Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and under Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), not an "investment asset" for land-hoarding parasites to sit on while the homeless population grows.

And you live in a society that is democratic, if we all vote that your house can only be two stories in height then that's the way it is, deal with it. Or leave that society. There is no excuse for vacant houses in mega cities like Toronto, and if you want to own one then pay the tax.

@tidbit1877 If you want communism, move to Russia. Just because some politicians create a bylaw doesn't make it right!

It is up to you what you do with it. Since you are not living in the house it is not a home. While the country is in a housing shortage. So should be taxed accordingly. It is not the whole problem but it is part of it.

This is a thing because we have a housing crisis that stems from people owning multiple homes that they don't live in. Try and keep up with what's actually going on in reality, I know it's difficult when you only have three brain cells to rub together.

Large investment companies are buying up hundreds of newly built houses just to take them off the market; by limiting the supply they force the prices of all houses up into the stratosphere. Some of these investors rent the houses on airbnb, others just offer the houses for rent but they charge a fortune for the rent; they can do this because they are collectively buying up ALL the new housing. It's the latest FU to poor people and "get rich quick" scheme by the ultra rich. So now the city of Toronto is taxing people if they leave their houses vacant. This policy helps with the housing crisis by preventing companies from owning dozens of vacant houses, and at the very least encourages the companies to lower the rents in order to fill the houses; and it also helps the city reduce it's huge deficit that was left by the previous administration.

ToronRonians can afford higher taxes keep voting for it.

....or...she could stop the tax altogether because people are already paying hefty taxes on property they legally own and this is a violation of democratic rights! This is big brother control. It is not their business how much time you spend on property you own. Jeez. Why are people trying to negotiate the logistics of this? A country of sheep.

@@averagejane09 Completely agree with you. The whole definition of what constitutes private property becomes fuzzy. But this is a cornerstone of the economy that is able to protect the investment and produce something. What's the next step? Looking at how much square footage each person has in the privately owned property and taxing what the authorities deem too much?

@@verar5844 Yes. And in this economy, how many people now could afford to own one property they don't live in let alone multiple? What is the demographic being targeted here? I don't buy any of this.

There is no need to own a home in a city that you don't live in. If you don't like it, don't own a home in the city that you don't live in. That's the law.

Should hot have to do it at all.

people voted for John Tory's vacancy tax?

@@pacman3556 mid management of current government regardless of the initiatives

so your comment has nothing to do with this video. People don't vote for the bureaucracy that runs the programs @@sangtaeminam

Honestly, I am tired of people saying that. Bull. Nobody voted for this. This was a surprise. And it is municipal government, not Feds....this time...why would the people have thought any government would do this? It is just that nobody is surprised anymore. They seem to all be crooked. Who would be the best choice? eh?

Why? Because she's helping with the housing crisis and at the same time helping to lower Toronto's huge deficit that was racked up by the previous administration? This is good policy, it was poorly ruled out and the administration of it needs to improve, but other than that it's just good policy. Next they should add a vacant rental unit tax if the unit is not rented for at least 9 month's out of the year.

no because she is incompetent. Sad thing is all our politicians from all parties and all levels are incompetent. But at least some of them don't pi$$ our money away then come back for more thinking we have endless deep pockets. @@tidbit1877

Get a 🙄

Who will you eat after all the rich have been eaten?

@@verar5844 The rich have near infinite wealth, so we can go on "eating" them forever and maintain our beautiful country and all it's infrastructure and lovely public services.

@@fkb247 go away bot

People own their properties and have the right to do what they want with them, Stalin.

Triple it and call it a day

No, the ones who are getting harassed when they live in their home. Nobody should have to declare that they live in their home every year. This is absurd.

@@averagejane09 how do you know. They were flagged for a reason

@@peej91 NO. It is happening everywhere. I got it..I live in my home.....everyone I know got it and they all live in their homes...everyone was like....what the heck is this?

Shoulda worked harder and you could have been a property owner, too.

@@vitaminjtuber Nope the system is rigged, our wages are too low to afford to even live in a rental let alone a house, and that's without a car.

@@vitaminjtuber Ah yes, just work harder argument. Like they weren't working hard..

Yea as a home “owner” I don’t own jack squat, if you don’t pay the taxes they just take your home away. It’s more like pay a few hundred grand so you can pay a smaller rent fee.

Kinda missing the elephant in the room. The bigger issue is not inconvenience. It is government control. It is not their business how much time you spend on a property you legally own and already pay hefty taxes on. This is the bigger picture for ALL OF US and we are arguing logistics. Totally missing it.

this was John Tory tax....a conservative.

This was a conservative measure. Also you can hate NDP or the left but know your policy first. NDP isn't aligned to be this speculative about private properties that's a right wing thing. I'm right and you know it.

why should the govt dictate to people what to do with their property. If someone has property that is vacant that is their business. It is not up to the individual to provide basic housing for people using their personal property. It is the responsibility of the govt to provide basic housing. It is their responsibility to build more low income housing etc. The govt is the one that created the problem and now they are blaming individuals for it (and you are swallowing that lie).

@@pacman3556 I don't care. Act like one of the foreign buyers who will buy up properties than leave them empty, that's your problem not anyone elses. Pay up for buying a property that otherwise could have been owned by a family who would actually live in the thing. Create government housing? That can just as easily be bought up and left empty too. By 'investers'. If someone can afford two houses (not just a house and small cabin in the woods) they deserve to pay for something being left empty. If they don't want to pay more they shouldn't have bought it in the first place. I hope this makes people think twice about 'investing'

Bought into that huh?

@@pacman3556 It is encouraging to see people can still think and see the issue with this.

It is sort of dumb. People are saying it's an NDP thing though. This was by that cheating mayor John Tory, he's conservative. If I hated you I'd suggest keep voting liberals or conservatives. I'll be fine but I got time to watch people and enjoy their mistakes.