Comment 43539

By A Smith (anonymous) | Posted July 16, 2010 at 15:56:23

nobrainer >> A downtown stadium connected to GO Transit actually could bring entertainment spending money into the city from outside it.

Or the city could use that money to lower tax rates so that we make investing in Hamilton a little more profitable. Currently, for every $100k dollar of new investment in Hamilton, things like condo units, the city asks for $1538 in residential taxes. In Burlington, this number is $1076 (2009), Oakville $1022 (2009) and Toronto $854 (2009).

Assuming that inflation increases at 2% per year, in order for Hamilton property owners to see a positive return on their investment, home/condo values must increase at more than 3.538% per year. If it's less than this, their homes will lose equity. In Burlington, home values only have to increase by 3.076% to make money, Oakville 3.022% and lucky Toronto homeowners will see equity gains at only 2.854%.

So, by having high tax rates on property, this city is decreasing the demand for Hamilton homes. If we really want more investment, we need to be tax competitive with other GTA communities. We simply can't charge people 50-80% more in taxes per dollar of investment and then expect people to pay it. They don't have to and they won't.

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