Guilbault introduces bill to end double ‘welcome tax’

The Quebec Minister of Municipal Affairs, Geneviève Guilbault, tabled a bill on Wednesday to put an end to the double “welcome tax” and the tax exemption granted to private presbyteries.

The objective of Bill 22, an act to enhance the powers of municipalities to intervene, is to bring back greater tax fairness between taxpayers, she explained.

Currently, if a couple separates and one of the two people wants to buy the house more than a year later, they have to pay the land transfer tax again, even if it was already paid once when the property was first purchased.

Often, the second “welcome tax” is much higher than the first, as the municipality takes into consideration the increase in the value of the repurchased portion.

“Taxing homeowners twice for their own homes makes no sense, and I want to correct this situation, which is unnecessarily penalizing people, in a context where the cost of property is exploding,” said the minister.

Bill 22 also aims to abolish the tax exemption granted to private presbyteries. These are defined as the principal residence of a person designated as a “minister of religion”.

If the bill is passed, a minister of religion will have to pay the full municipal taxes of his or her principal residence.

In addition, the legislation would allow municipalities to acquire, under certain conditions, buildings whose property taxes have been unpaid for at least three years.

In a press scrum at the National Assembly on Wednesday, Guilbault said she hopes Bill 22 will be adopted by the end of the parliamentary session scheduled for June 12.

“It’s quite consensual. I think everyone is going to be in favor of putting money back in taxpayers’ pockets, so I hope we can pass it quickly,” she said.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews