Land transfer taxes, GST should be shared with municipalities: Pickering [Video]

The City of Pickering is hoping to get a share of tax revenues from property transactions now being funnelled into the two upper levels of government.

Council passed a motion Monday asking the Ontario government to share a portion ofProvincial Land Transfer Tax collected from the sale of land in Pickering, as well as a percentage of the GST collected on property sales by the federal government.

Awarding some of that revenue to municipalities will provide municipalities “predictable and sustainable funding,” allowing for better long-term planning and investmentand to better address critical infrastructure needs.

The rationale behind the request, first broached by the Town of Aurora, is that the province in particular collects “substantial revenue” from land transfer taxes while the majority of infrastructure and services provided to homeowners remains the responsibility of local municipalities.

Redistribution a portion of the GST collected, the staff report noted, would better …