Raise the Hammer

I'm in Toronto and I can tell you, there's not that much upset around the latest tax hike. Nobody's moving to Oakville because of it that's for sure.

The main impediment for folks moving to TO is the house prices and the ridiculous new municipal house transfer tax. I moved from Hamilton about 3 years ago (and avoided the new municipal tax). We calculated the cost of running two cars and the physical/mental toll of the commute, versus living in downtown TO. There are still family houses you can buy in downtown TO for just above 300k. Although this is a lot of money in Hamilton house terms we found that our standard of living is just a little less than it was in Hamilton and, more importantly, our quality of life has improved dramatically.

The main obstacle to staying in Hamilton was the lack of available 'good' jobs there. In the end the commute just wasn't viable in the long term. It takes too much of a toll. People will move to where the good jobs are and to where the quality of life is best. I found that most of our friends in Hamilton stayed there because that was where there roots are. I know very few people who have chosen to stay there out of choice. In the end, when you have an inferior quality of life (and no Councilor Merulla, Big Box stores do not add anything to my quality of life) and a long commute, you are not able to enjoy yourself. A nice house and a cheap mortgage can only get you so far. In the end the reason to locate somewhere comes down to a lot more than that.

Toronto has many problems too. I think many times it get's too much respect from RTH. But at least I can walk to work, avoid the soul sapping experiences of shopping at Big Box stores and save money on car costs. These things are important to me. A 2% tax hike (which is, as the CTV article correctly points out, really a cleverly disguised 10% tax hike) is not going to push me out to Oakville or anywhere else.

Cheers

Ben