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People across Canada are sounding the alarm: Housing is no longer affordable for many, especially young Canadians trying to buy their first home. You hear it from families in Winnipeg, business owners in Calgary, and parents in the Maritimes watching their kids give up on the dream of homeownership.

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In response, politicians are rushing to microphones with their latest promise: Eliminate the GST on new home purchases. They say this will make housing more affordable. It’s too little, too late. And frankly, it’s a distraction.

Let’s be clear: If politicians really wanted to make housing more affordable, they would stop taxing it to death.

Consider the number of times you pay taxes on a single home. It’s not once, or twice. It’s at least four or five separate tax events, often more, that hit both the builder and the buyer. Let’s start from the top.

When a home is built, there’s GST on the purchase of the land. Then, there’s GST on construction materials and labour. There are permitting fees — which are taxes by another name — and you pay GST on those too. When the home sells, there’s a land transfer tax. That’s all before you move in.

Then come the annual hits: Property taxes, waste collection fees, new water fees, and whatever else the city can squeeze in. In Winnipeg, waste fees alone have nearly tripled this year, and City Hall still insists it’s fighting for more affordable housing. If Mayor Scott Gillingham wants to........

© Winnipeg Sun