Tax credit for Ist-time homebuyers
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Kitchener today announcing a Conservative plan to offer first time homebuyers some assistance in the form of a tax credit.
Sounds like a good idea to me. My son was saying just the other day that he fears he’ll never be able to buy a house. Perhaps this will give him some hope to keep working hard and continue to save up for a down-payment.
But what really bothers me is that I didn’t get a heads-up from anyone about this Harper event! I must really be out of the loop.
*sniff*
September 16th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Funny you mention a SH event, I was on the CPC site just yesterday looking for a schedule of appearances wanting to ensure I see SH when/if he comes to town and found nothing. Disappointing.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Annie, part of it might be not wanting to give the opposition parties a heads-up where they might be able to discern the announcement and have something ready to attack it.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Actually, when I saw a clip about this on CTV, Kate Wheeler asked Graham Richardson what the itinerary was for the rest of the day, and even he wasn’t sure!
My guess is that they keep this stuff close to the vest.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Just watched ctv with Craig Oliver (out campaigning for the Libs)..following speeches by Dion/Rae in Maritimes.Craig notes the “painful contrast” between the 2,talks about the rip-roaring Rae speech,and the ‘uninspiring’Dion speech.He then goes on to tell the Libs what they need to do.
Nice to see Layton get shut off,so both ctv/cbc could go live to that other waste of time Dion tho!
BTW,does anyone know of a site that is keeping track of the dollar amts of all the astronomical election promises by Libs/NDP,and how in H. they are going to pay for this??? Majority of questions on the campaign trail are related to a slowing economy,and need to be prudent,yet both these parties are promising the moon and more.
I like the everyday man,small yet very important announcements PMSH is making,as opposed to empty rhetoric,and BILLIONS of dollars in spending.We need a site to track this!
September 16th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
How about convincing McShifty and the other premiers (and Mayor Miller for that matter) to stop making home purchases expensive in the first place? For a first time home buyer, nearly all of the closing costs will be the land transfer taxes, since real estate fees are paid by the seller. When I purchased my current house, I paid roughly $15,000 just in Ontario land transfer taxes! What the hell did I really get for that? I purchased a house on the other side of town (the same town), closer to my work, which reduced travel time and car pollution, and therefore probably a net benefit to society, and for that I pay McShifty 15 grand!
September 16th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
BTW,does anyone know of a site that is keeping track of the dollar amts of all the astronomical election promises…
That is an excellent question, Sammy. I would expect that Dion would use carbon taxes from the Green Shift to fund his promises, but not sure about Layton. Probably increase taxes on businesses, corporations and high income earners.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I purchased a house on the other side of town (the same town), closer to my work, which reduced travel time and car pollution, and therefore probably a net benefit to society, and for that I pay McShifty 15 grand!
Yeah, that’s quite a kick in the butt, isn’t it Dave?
September 16th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Tax credits like this make good sound bites but in reality they are something different. They have the initial effect of allowing people that may not otherwise afford a house to get into the market but then the added demand just increases the price of housing. Just as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were originally created to make housing more affordable they are now a huge albatross around the neck of the US taxpayer and their mandate now seems to be to keep houses from falling in price (make it less affordable).
I think the Canadian government should learn from this and stay out of the free markets.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
The CTV article about this was originally titled something like ‘Harper promises $750 tax break.’ It has since changed to “Tory agenda sidetracked by protesters” http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080911/election2008_harper_home_080916/20080916?s_name=election2008&no_ads=
John M Reynolds
September 16th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Maybe that’s why his itinerary isn’t posted anywhere. It seems the nutzoid protestors have been showing up lately.
Now you know things are getting desperate for the opposition. Wait for it - the abortion question HAS to pop up sooner or later from the bushes.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Garth now taking on CBC! Read Stephen Taylor’s latest.This is getting better by the minute,and I can’t see the cbc sitting back for this one!
September 16th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
John, CTV seemed focussed on that on Newsnet too. They sure pandered to the protesters. Other leaders have had protesters at their events too, but it seems to get very little coverage.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Sammy, I added a link to the previous post about Garth. This is becoming one of the most entertaining aspects of this election.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Maybe that’s why his itinerary isn’t posted anywhere. It seems the nutzoid protestors have been showing up lately.
Good point, Soccermom. It must be a security issue.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
‘Maybe that’s why his itinerary isn’t posted anywhere. It seems the nutzoid protestors have been showing up lately.’
The security around PMSH is sure tight.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Kevin Says…
Tax credits like this make good sound bites but in reality they are something different. They have the initial effect of allowing people that may not otherwise afford a house to get into the market but then the added demand just increases the price of housing. Just as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were originally created to make housing more affordable they are now a huge albatross around the neck of the US taxpayer and their mandate now seems to be to keep houses from falling in price (make it less affordable).
I think the Canadian government should learn from this and stay out of the free markets.
I also think the government should stay out of the problem, but it’s not that simple. Governments are already part of the problem. See my earlier comment. Most of the current costs of getting into the housing market are already artifical costs added by government in the form of useless Provincial and sometimes Municipal land transfer taxes. The credit being proposed by Harper is just a drop in the bucket towards reducing the current government interference in the market. I’d prefer that the provinces start to trim the current taxes, but if that’s not going to happen, a federal tax credit is at least a step in the right direction.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Good point, Dave. The problem is especially bad in Toronto with the extra land transfer costs.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I’m all for tax cuts but let’s have them across the board. I don’t like these narrow, politically motivated cuts targetting specific groups. They clutter up an already over-complicated tax code and worse in this case interfere with markets.
Also, I tend to think the affordability issue is a little overblown. No, junior may not be able to afford a house like his parents’ big home - the one they’ve spent a lifetime moving up to. But, assuming junior can be pried from the basement suite with the big-screen TV, he’ll in all likelihood be able to afford a mortgage on a better place than the little squat I started with 40 years ago.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Joanne…
This morningI mentioned your concern about not being in the loop to the Rob McQuaig campaign manager for Stephen Woodworth.
You are correct about protestors being a concern. Apparently this was a ‘messaging’ event.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
For those wondering where PM Harper’s going to next, I saw this yesterday in the G&M:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080914.welectiongooglemap_week2/BNStory/politics/home
I don’t know whether it’s published after the fact, or whether actual locations are given.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
This morningI mentioned your concern about not being in the loop to the Rob McQuaig campaign manager for Stephen Woodworth.
Oh, thanks Paul. It’s probably my own fault for not getting more personally involved with the campaign. This election is coinciding with a lot of personal stuff going on just now.
Gabby, thanks for that link. Very cool!
September 16th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Sammy, the http://imrightasrain.blogspot.com/2008/09/dion-promises-900-million-in-new.html site has a post about the cost of some of the liberal election promises.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Sammy, the http://imrightasrain.blogspot.com/2008/09/dion-promises-900-million-in-new.html site has a post about the cost of some of the liberal election promises.
JR, if this gets young people out to vote, then it will have had a good effect.
John M Reynolds
September 16th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Okey-dokey.
P.S. If you go here http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/Subscribe.asp you can sign up to receive notices about the PM & his activities, statements, etc.
I have received invitations in the past, so that might be one way of finding out about rallies.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Thanks, Gabby. I think I already signed up for that. I guess the key is checking your email, right? Doh!
September 16th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
John, sorry but your comments got caught up in the spam filter. Thanks for that link though.
That’s a great resource.