THE TAX ON THE TRANSFER OF LAND

[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 24 May 1921]

The Tribune and Telegraph has been requested by Mr. Crow, the Registrar of Deeds, to draw the attention of the public to a law passed at the recent session of the Legislature which is of special interest to everybody who deals in real estate, and to the lawyers and conveyancers who draw the deeds of transfer.

The title of the new law is: “The Land Transfer Tax Act,” and it purpose is to provide another source of revenue for the Provincial Treasury by imposing a tax on transfers of land.

The pith of the act is found in the sections quoted below viz:-

2-A tax of one-fifth of one per centum upon the amount of the purchase price shall be paid by the party registering same upon every transfer, conveyance, deed. Instrument, or writing whereby any land, tenements or other realty sold shall be granted, assigned, transferred or otherwise conveyed to or vested in the purchaser or purchasers, or in any other person or persons by his, her or their direction.

3-Such tax shall be collected by the registrar –before he registers such transfer-, and any registrar-shall be entitled to retain to his own use two per centum of the moneys collected by him under Section 2 hereof.

5-The registrar-shall, within the first week of each month, send to the Treasurer of Ontario a statement of the amount collected during the previous month-and shall pay over the amount thereof less the percentage provided for in Section 3 hereof, to the Treasurer of Ontario for the uses of Ontario.

It will be noticed that the tax is not to be computed upon the amount, namely in the transfer as the consideration, which often is only a nominal sum, but on the actual purchase price as sworn to by the purchaser in a special affidavit which Section 6 requires him to make and file with the registrar and that the tax must be paid before the deed is registered.

The Act does not apply to any transfer where an agreement for sale of the land has already been registered.

It comes into force and takes effect on the first day of June next, which leaves but little time in which to become familiar with its provisions. Registrar Crow is sending complete copies of the Act to the lawyers and conveyancers throughout the county.

Hon. Peter Smith, the Provincial Treasurer, is the author of the measure, and it will be interesting to follow it in its operation and to observe how much it augments his strong box.

Registrar Crow says that last year the number of transfers registered in this county was 3465. Averaging the consideration in these at say $1000 each, the tax (which is one-fifth of one per cent, or $2.00 per thousand) would be $2.00 on each deed, or on the whole 3465 instruments $6,930.00. Multiply this by 67, the number of registry divisions in the Province, we get the tidy sum of $464,310.00 no small addition to the provincial revenue.