Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has promised to fix the vacant home tax program

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says at least one employee involved in the “deadly” plan to implement the vacant home tax is no longer working.

Speaking to reporters before a city council meeting Wednesday, Chow said “the program was a complete mess, the way it was done,” and said he would work with senior staff and budget chief Shelley Carroll to fix it.

“The person who created the program is no longer in the city,” Chow said when asked if there were any consequences to the disaster's spread.

Thousands of people living in their homes were shocked to receive thousands of dollars in bills this year, prompting a long line of confused residents at City Hall.

Chou said the 110,000 homeowners who received bills and complained were sent a letter saying the charges had been refunded. He said another 48,000 people who received a bill this year but didn't pay last year will be sent a letter today saying they don't have to pay. About 11,000 landlords who declared their properties vacant will have to foot the bill this year, he said.

Asked if the main problem was poor communication, Chou replied, “Oh, it's more than that,” and reiterated that the program was “deeply flawed.”

He said the program was set up to automatically withdraw money and didn't take into account people who don't necessarily read their tax bills every year, people who don't speak English, snowbirds and other people who didn't see the ad. they need to fill out a declaration.

“How is it possible that the group that was forced to declare its seat vacant last year had only 11,000 people — 165,000 tax bills were canceled,” Chow said. “Sorry, I'm sure anyone can do math. If you have, maybe your younger sister can do the math and say “wait a second, there are 160,000 bills going out, but it only needs to reach 11,000 people”? What's going on with the other 160,000?' No, it didn't work on many levels.”

Despite the program's confusion, Chow believes the tax is still needed to help solve the housing shortage crisis.

“Why are we doing this?” “Because we want to have a fair policy against speculation that makes houses affordable,” Chow said. “If we can reduce the number of vacant homes in the city, that means there will be more homes on the market for people to live in.”

Some consultants have suggested combining it all. The council is discussing how to fix it today.