Anyone living in the GTA area has inevitably heard of the proposed new Land Transfer Tax which will be voted on in city council on October 22, 2007. However, what many people do not realize is the impact this will have on their transactions.

For an idea of how much Land Transfer Tax you can expect to pay, a website has been set up to help you determine the amount. You can expect to pay effectively double what you would pay now. Note that this tax is implemented under the City of Toronto Act, which means that it only affects properties located in the City of Toronto and not other municipalities outside of Toronto.

As a sole practioner handling mostly real estate files, I'm concerned about the how my clients will be able to afford the increased Land Transfer Tax. I've had several clients who could barely put together the money required to close and would have a difficult time, if not find it impossible, to close with an increased Land Transfer tax.

Mayor David Miller and his "inner circle" at city council want you to believe that Toronto is in a cash crunch despite their free spending ways. I recall hearing on the news about how the TTC was planning a multi-million dollar renovation of several of its subway stations but expected to be a few hundred thousand short of its operating budget because "too many people were riding public transit".

It just seemed to be such a contradiction so I spoke to a city councilor about it. He agreed that everything at city hall is "backwards" and noted that as the source of his frustration on many days.

Is it just me, or has everybody forgotten about proper fiscal planning? There's your tax dollars at work for you.