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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Realtor association targets land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 01/13/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

The new president of the WinnipegREALTORS is hoping persistence pays off when it comes to the much maligned provincial land transfer tax.Claude Davis and other WR representatives met Finance Minister Roseann Wowchuk Tuesday to urge her government to exempt first-time homebuyers from having to pay the land transfer tax.

The association made the same pitch last year to then finance minister Greg Selinger, now premier, but to no avail. Davis said he's hoping this time will be different, although Wowchuk didn't give them an answer at the meeting.

"She received it as information and said she'd consider it. And that's all we can ask," Davis said.

However, Wowchuk didn't sound like she held out much hope for an LTT reprieve in this spring's provincial budget.

She said in an interview that although she'll take this and other tax-change requests into consideration, the province is facing a deficit as a result of the recession and has to find a way to balance the budget, stimulate the economy and maintain health care and other essential services.

Davis said WR representatives pointed out that each house transaction in Manitoba generates about $40,000 in spinoff economic benefits, and exempting first-time buyers as some other provinces do could help stimulate the market by making homes easier for them to purchase.

The tax is intended to pay for the costs of registering a property transaction in the provincial land registry. It is based on a percentage of the value of a transaction, rather than a set fee.

The tax rate is 0.5 per cent for the portion of the selling price between $30,000 and $90,000, one per cent from $90,000 to $150,000, 1.5 per cent from $150,000 to $200,000, and two per cent for anything above $200,000. On a $350,000 sale, the homebuyer pays a land transfer tax of $4,650.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 13, 2010 B5

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