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Re:Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for ... by dheera on Saturday March 13, 2021 @12:06PM (#26447922)
Maybe they should consider doing an early cap on property taxes and property values before it becomes like the Bay Area where even if you work at Google you can't afford a house.

There is rent control where I live, but no buy-house control, and there's almost nothing available below $2M USD.

Re:Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for ... by bobthepanda on Saturday March 13, 2021 @01:31PM (#26448718)
Prop 13 is arguably one of the reasons why Bay Area housing spun out of control, I don’t think this would help much.
Re:Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for ... by DC1350 on Saturday March 13, 2021 @12:20PM (#26448023)
Google doesn't have an office in Toronto but Amazon employees don't make enough to buy houses. It doesn't matter though because most people in Toronto now make more money on real estate appreciation than they make from their jobs. Real estate gains are tax free so a modest 10% home price increase (it was 30% last year) is like earning at least an extra 150k pre tax
Re:Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for ... by dheera on Saturday March 13, 2021 @12:24PM (#26448070)
That's kind of sad though. It seems people own houses to sell them, instead of owning houses to own them.

I feel like the whole point of owning a house is to customize it into a fairytale home of your dreams and never want to sell it. Otherwise I'd just rent.

Re:Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for ... by fakedang on Sunday March 14, 2021 @01:52AM (#26453341)
In the current environment, it's cheaper to borrow and buy to sell.
Re:Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for ... by astrange on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:50PM (#26450328)
You should read Henry George because you have the effect of LVT/property taxes exactly backwards. LVT is better than property taxes though, which have bad effects like sometimes motivating people to destroy their buildings to save on taxes.