Council votes to hike Toronto’s vacant home tax to 3% as housing crisis grows

Toronto City Council has voted to increase the vacant home tax from one to three per cent of the assessed value of a property in order to help combat the city's housing crisis and budget deficit. The revenue from the tax will be directed to a city housing program to provide grants to non-profit housing operators to buy private market rental housing. The tax applies if a home has been unoccupied for six months in a year or is not used as the owner's principal residence and fines for attempting to evade the tax can range from $250 to $10,000. The city has seen 95% compliance with the tax, with 17,400