Bradford's Tax Cut Fantasy Threatens Essential Services
A proposal to scrap the Municipal Land Transfer Tax for homes up to $1.1 million creates a massive fiscal hole while offering vague promises of infrastructure delays and water company dividends.
OPINION: Coun. Brad Bradford is attempting to sell a vision of affordability that is as fiscally reckless as it is optimistic. By proposing to scrap the Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) for homes valued up to $1.1 million, Bradford is essentially gambling with the city's basic functionality to win points in a mayoral race.
As first reported by CBC Toronto, this proposal would carve an estimated $300 million hole in the city's spending plan. This is a staggering figure to introduce at a time when Toronto is already grappling with funding gaps exceeding one billion dollars at the start of recent annual budget deliberations. The MLTT is not a luxury; it is a lifeline. The city estimates the tax will raise $850 million this year, and these funds have increasingly been diverted into the operating budget to pay for basic, essential services.
When asked how he intends to fill this void, Bradford's answers are a masterclass in creative accounting. CBC Toronto reports that Bradford's team suggests the cut would be offset by extending the timeline for paying off infrastructure projects—essentially pushing today's debts into tomorrow—and the creation of a public water company that might, potentially, pay out dividends.
While Daniel Steinfeld, president of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, argues that the MLTT adds $36,000 in upfront fees to the average home purchase and prohibits people from entering the market, the cost of this "relief" is borne by every resident who relies on city services. Zac Spicer, a public policy professor at York University, notes that while the tax impacts the housing market, the city is limited in its revenue tools, relying almost exclusively on property taxes, user fees, and provincial transfers.
We have seen this warning before. CBC Toronto notes that in 2015, then city manager Peter Wallace warned that Toronto had become a "free rider" on a real estate boom and was overly reliant on the volatile revenue generated by the MLTT. Wallace explicitly stated that without this tax, the city would have gone through the "fiscal wringer" long ago.
Bradford claims he wants "big ideas" and to do things "differently." But delaying infrastructure payments isn't a big idea—it's a recipe for decay. Trading guaranteed revenue for the hope of water company dividends is not a fiscal strategy; it is a fantasy that leaves Toronto's crumbling infrastructure and essential services to pay the price.