Mayor John Tory discusses a vacant property tax and other hot topics

Caught Mayor Tory’s Q&A on CP24 this week. The segment takes questions from residents about whatever is on their minds – it’s a good barometer for what people are thinking about, and at the top of the show, real estate came up.

Are we doing enough to discourage investors from leaving homes empty while they accrue equity? The mayor doesn’t think so. Owning multiple homes is fine, he believes, as long as they end up on the rental market, but what is “objectionable” is a buyer who takes a property off the market and leaves it empty.

The province has indicated a willingness to impose a vacant property tax; a way to implement such a tax is being looked at now, especially in light of the increased popularity of Airbnb and similar websites.

Proposed legislation would allow you to rent out your own home, but not to allow a “wedding party/frat party sort of routine,” an expressly purchased rental that would “change the quality of the neighbourhood.”

I know people who are already up in arms about sites like Airbnb (and Uber for that matter) because they circumvent licensing, business taxes and the other bureaucracies to which hotels (and taxis) are subject. I’m inclined to agree for the sake of property owners who choose to live in a residentially zoned neighbourhood, who shouldn’t find themselves living next to a commercial proposition.

That said, we already do too little to encourage (and too much to overtax) entrepreneurs. I’m not sure what the happy medium is. Airbnb and Uber are such new ideas that they have thus far gotten away with little legislation, but that’s changing as we speak. Legislators have caught on.  

As for the vacant property tax, I’m in agreement. There’s no reason to allow investors to hang onto empty homes in a dire housing situation like ours, without making them pay for the privilege.

Next up was a question about the licensing of marijuana lounges. Tory said that while he is in favour of legalization, of taking the criminal element out of marijuana sales and putting strict rules in, he doesn’t yet know how he feels about things like lounges.

Makes me wonder — is marijuana a recreational drug like alcohol? Or a smokeable, like cigarettes? We don’t allow smoking lounges. Tory said he doesn’t want to reject the idea out of hand, but that we are still faced with a lot of questions.

That discussion led to some thoughts on impairment, which is certainly one of the biggest issues legalization faces. Tory and the host both said they weren’t sure how to best handle the question of impairment when it came to medical marijuana in particular, but that seems like a no-brainer to me.

If you’re impaired, you’re impaired. It’s a question of being a danger on the road, not where the marijuana came from.

It got me wondering how different a culture we’ll be looking at when it is legal. The province has imposed strict guidelines for how it will be sold, that’s for sure. But how it will be used is still a more (smoky) grey area.

I’ve never thought there was a defensible argument to be made for why alcohol should be legal and pot shouldn’t, but now that it seems the time is upon us to deal with the finer points, I’m not sure what I think about its public consumption. You?

A student called in to ask Tory how he planned to stimulate job growth, so that there were jobs to look forward to after graduation. Tory responded that the best thing he could do was try to help create a city that encourages business settlement and growth.

True, but how about encouraging entrepreneurship, which provides jobs and opportunities for wealth creation? Most countries tax small businesses at a higher rate than larger corporations, and there are few tax breaks for small businesses and sole proprietorships. I have beat this drum before and I’m not sure why it doesn’t seem to resonate with legislators.  

We need to examine delays and streamline process for small businesses. And we need to realize that the sources of growth — land and physical assets — in the 20th century aren’t the same as those in the 21st — technology and innovation. We need to restructure our fiscal systems to be relevant.

Empty storefronts, like empty homes, were also on the minds of residents, but it seems a simple fix is in the works. The vacant store tax rebate brought in during the recession is being phased out, which means rebate checks are no longer a disincentive to find a tenant.

What do you think of the priorities of your fellow residents? Got something else on your mind? Reach out, to Tory and to us.