The Toronto Real Estate Board likes mayoral candidate Doug Ford’s proposal to slash land transfer taxes by 60 percent over a four-year period.
But at a press conference where Ford floated the idea, TREB President Paul Etherington squashed any discussion about real estate brokerage commissions, which a reporter covering the event pointed out exceed the transfer tax, the Toronto Star reports.
“Inappropriate competition question,” Etherington said in shutting down that discussion. “Not appropriate for this. Thank you very much.”
TREB has been battling Canada’s Competition Bureau since 2011, when regulators alleged that restrictions imposed by the trade group on the display of sold and pending listings by “virtual office websites” are restricting competition that might save consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in commissions. Source: thestar.com.
