I agree. That is nothing more than propaganda.

Hi Eric, I cringe hearing the term 'more productive'. Recall that Manhattan is a huge 'productive' class as well and it served as the epicenter for trillions in lost wealth.

I appreciate what you are saying. Yes data can be a bit stagnant. There are still sources though, that show that things have not changed to much. I follow Toronto economic indicators reports every month, along with the yearly T.E.S. The same thing you witnessed in Caledon has been happening for...

The amount of occupied office space in the City of Toronto declined between the first quarter 2001 and second quarter 2003, after which the total occupied office space remained stable until the fourth quarter 2004. Between 2001 and beginning of 2003 the amount of occupied office space...

The inner suburbs have maintained their density while getting poorer. The 905 communities have been getting wealthier while density has increased. So I am not inclined to believe the demographic push argument.

Except those that build or own the space that is getting taxed. This report might be interesting to you. Start at page 13.

You may want to believe that taxation has had little effect, but that is not the case. Have a look at Mayor Miller's MEAC report; http://www.toronto.ca/prosperity/pdf/mecac-year-one.pdf

Who cares? Um, that should be everybody. First off if there were 300,000 more jobs in Toronto than there are, the TTC could expect ridership to increase by many millions per year. Justifying more service. Instead we got Transit City. which increased transit into areas of the city where jobs...

York Region had projected 466k jobs within the region in 2006 vs. an actual of 460k (493K in 2009). Toronto had projected 1,534k jobs in the city by 2006 vs. an actual of 1,277k. (1,291k in 2009) York is 1.28% behind projections Toronto is 17.21% behind...

The projections are pretty far of from reality. Toronto projected population end of 2011, 2.764,680 Employment in the city of Toronto projected for end of 2011, 1,615,617 (actual in currently under 1.3 million in the city of Toronto). http://www.toronto.ca/torontoplan/pdf/flash_sec3.pdf...

No, commercial tenants are very aware of the tax burden as it can up to 50% of the gross rent. At lease commencement they would inquire about the rates and account for any expected changes. Partly, but the move to CVA and the failure to fix the ratios during that time are the real reason.

Gross rents are price elastic towards tax. That is to say that if taxes go up and services remain the same, net rents will lower leaving gross rents unchanged. You also must keep in mind that many of the higher expenses outside of Toronto, like land costs, development charges, are one time...

Gross rents are similar, it is the net rents that differ. This is because of the taxes. As such an office building in Toronto will produce less net revenue for the owner, and be valued accordingly. I covered this a while ago using the TEDCO report ....... There are countless reports that...

All to often development fees are looked at from the revenue point of view. Development charges are (at least supposed to be) revenue neutral. They reflect the the capital cost of the added infrastructure needed to support new development. Or from the legislation itself...

CN Tower, This is what taal is referring to.... http://www.renx.ca/PDF/07-mississauga-jlls.pdf Compare how much was developed in Toronto, in particular the suburbs during that time.

Yes, I have been a real pain to him. I mean a constituent that contacts his councillor's office 11 times over 4 years could only prove to be a 'character'. Maybe you would have better luck? Ask him for me what he is doing small businesses facing crushing property tax bills. He knows that it...

As evidence about the dangers of an over reliance on the office sector have a look at it relative size in the downtown. ........ Downtown, is the largest employment cluster in the GTA, where 420,500 jobs make up over one-third of the all jobs found in the City. After five years of...

Yes, I have talked o the city about this before. The official response is that the ETBC and CIP programs were adequate. I disagreed. I have not talked to anyone at the city since Rob Ford has become Mayor, but I will soon.

tall, I would worry first about the type of properties that a lot of small businesses operate out of. They are subject to having their properties values in a 'highest and best use' way. So regardless of what a property is now, if as of right zoning allows for higher density (think St...

What you say describes today, not tomorrow. Your perspective is that of a tenant, not a developer. Compare net rents across the GTA. You will see that While the core produces much higher gross rents, the net to the building owner is nearly the same. As such it is hard to justify the premium in...