Socialist Toronto home vacancy tax sign up extended but “snitch” line activated

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The City of Toronto has established a special tattle-tale “hotline” so people can squeal on those who haven’t disclosed the occupancy status of their home or rental property.

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And, in true “Diversity is our Strength” Canada, you can nail people in a variety of international tongues.

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“You can get information about the Vacant Home Tax and how to declare occupancy status or file a complaint in any language,” the City says in a news release. “If you would like to report a residential property that you believe to be vacant, you can leave a message on the vacant property reporting hotline at 416-395-1098.”

No reward has been revealed for spying so far, but they pay $14 in in China and paid $100 Deutsch Marks in cold-war East Germany.

It’s like Toronto has become a police state. Maybe the Stasi will respond?

All kidding aside, if you haven’t signed up for the City’s draconian Home Vacancy Tax grift, or declared the occupancy status of any property, you may want to consider who might drop a dime to the petty authorities like they do in China, Cuba and North Korea.

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If you are one of the 3% who have not registered with the Home Vacancy Tax despots, who knows who may come knocking at your door?

Or who may snitch?

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“It’s time to declare,” says a communist-style propaganda message out of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Or else!

It may be 2024 Toronto but make no mistake, it’s like 1917 Soviet-era Moscow.

The good news is if you didn’t fill out your Home Vacancy Tax form by Feb. 29, as originally required, the deadline has been extended. The bad news is that if you don’t acquiesce by March 15, you will now face a fine.

“The deadline for homeowners to submit a declaration of their property’s occupancy status was indeed Thursday, February 29,” a response from the City of Toronto stated Friday. “At its meeting yesterday, the City’s Executive Committee approved an extension of this deadline to March 15, 2024.”

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Of course, it should be nobody’s business but your own who lives in your property. But socialist thinkers believe in control and dominance.

“Owners of residential property in Toronto must declare its occupancy status every year,” the City declared Friday, adding “the Vacant Home Tax bylaw was adopted by City Council in December 2021” to “boost housing supply by deterring owners from leaving residential properties vacant, encouraging them to rent or sell instead.”

If you don’t’ register?

“In October, 2023 the bylaw was amended to allow the City to charge a $21.24 fee for failure to submit a declaration of occupancy status by the declaration due date.”

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If you are honest and declare vacancies?

“Homeowners who declare that their property was vacant for more than six months in 2023 will be assessed the Vacant Home Tax, which for the 2023 taxation year is one per cent of the property’s Current Value Assessment (CVA).”

It doesn’t sound like much until you consider that the average residential property is valued at $1 million, meaning a homeowner would be hit with a $10,000 tax bill for the year.

You thought you owned your own home, but Chow and her leftist pals own a piece of it too. Previous mayor John Tory should take a bow as well because this cruelty and infringement on freedoms arrived under his watch.

In translation, it’s all just another rapacious tax grab and another communist-style hand of Big Brother reaching into your pocket for more money to pay for the incredibly wasteful spending of an incompetent and mean Mayor and City Council who just hit already-struggling homeowners with a 9.5% property tax hike.

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It’s theft.

These useless politicians waste your money every day, jack your fines and fees and give you little to no service while handing over $380 million to host six World Cup soccer games and spending millions more on the renaming of Yonge-Dundas Square – not to mention the countless millions lost to the federal government’s ArriveCan app and vaccine purchases.

And when these tyrants come up with a registration one day to show what food you have in your fridge – how much milk, eggs, meat or vegetables that may have had an environmental impact – the precedent is already set.

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But, hey, more good news.

“No residents have incurred this fee to date,” the City said of the new $21.24 fee for failing to submit a declaration of occupancy status by the due date.

But let’s see what these communist dreamers do March 16. Will they freeze your bank accounts? Steal your home?

Meanwhile, anyone on the fence may want to start considering whether you have any neighbours, friends or relatives who might rat you out.

jwarmington@postmedia.com

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