The federal Liberals are putting a $175 million a year tax on luxury vacant homes that aren’t being lived in, says Blacklock’s Reporter..The move, in Chrystia Freeland’s Monday budget, is aimed at rich offshore landlords who buy up pricey Canadian real estate and then let it sit empty in places like Vancouver..“The idea is if you’re living in the home you won’t be subject to the tax,” said Bruce Ball, vice-president of taxation with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada..“This is a fairly new concept. As we get closer to implementation I’m sure they’ll be thinking about compliance.”.The Finance department in the budget said the 1% equity tax will be levied each year effective January 1, 2022..“Homes are to live in. This measure is one tool among several to ensure Canada’s housing market is a place to grow for Canadians,” staff wrote..The tax is worth up to $11,000 a year for foreign owners based on current Canadian Real Estate Association average sales data in Vancouver and Toronto..The tax would apply to “residential real estate that is considered to be vacant or underused,” said the budget..The finance department called it “Canada’s first national tax on vacant property owned by non-residents” and non-citizens..“They are not assets for parking offshore money. This tax measure will work to ensure that is the case,” Freeland told reporters..Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called the measure a significant entry into taxation of homeowners’ equity..“That is opening the door farther than I would like. Governments have a habit of testing these concepts and expanding them later on,” said Wudrick..British Columbia introduced a 15% tax in 2016 on offshore buyers in Metro Vancouver. The B.C. Supreme Court two years ago dismissed challenges of the tax as discriminatory against Chinese buyers..“There is no burden imposed on buyers from Asian countries that is not imposed on buyers from other countries,” wrote the court..“The view that foreign nationals significantly contributed to the escalation of prices of housing in Greater Vancouver is neither a stereotype nor a continuation of racist policies from the past.”.The Liberal Party campaigned on the equity tax in the 2019 federal election..However a Liberal appointee to the Senate protested the tax was “ideological.”.Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) earlier said Canadians, not foreign speculators, were to blame for bidding up house prices..“The very folks who peddled stories about rampant foreign buying in Vancouver and the uncritical media who bought into those stories did more to harm housing affordability than the foreign buyers themselves,” Woo wrote in an April 20, 2018 tweet..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
The federal Liberals are putting a $175 million a year tax on luxury vacant homes that aren’t being lived in, says Blacklock’s Reporter..The move, in Chrystia Freeland’s Monday budget, is aimed at rich offshore landlords who buy up pricey Canadian real estate and then let it sit empty in places like Vancouver..“The idea is if you’re living in the home you won’t be subject to the tax,” said Bruce Ball, vice-president of taxation with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada..“This is a fairly new concept. As we get closer to implementation I’m sure they’ll be thinking about compliance.”.The Finance department in the budget said the 1% equity tax will be levied each year effective January 1, 2022..“Homes are to live in. This measure is one tool among several to ensure Canada’s housing market is a place to grow for Canadians,” staff wrote..The tax is worth up to $11,000 a year for foreign owners based on current Canadian Real Estate Association average sales data in Vancouver and Toronto..The tax would apply to “residential real estate that is considered to be vacant or underused,” said the budget..The finance department called it “Canada’s first national tax on vacant property owned by non-residents” and non-citizens..“They are not assets for parking offshore money. This tax measure will work to ensure that is the case,” Freeland told reporters..Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called the measure a significant entry into taxation of homeowners’ equity..“That is opening the door farther than I would like. Governments have a habit of testing these concepts and expanding them later on,” said Wudrick..British Columbia introduced a 15% tax in 2016 on offshore buyers in Metro Vancouver. The B.C. Supreme Court two years ago dismissed challenges of the tax as discriminatory against Chinese buyers..“There is no burden imposed on buyers from Asian countries that is not imposed on buyers from other countries,” wrote the court..“The view that foreign nationals significantly contributed to the escalation of prices of housing in Greater Vancouver is neither a stereotype nor a continuation of racist policies from the past.”.The Liberal Party campaigned on the equity tax in the 2019 federal election..However a Liberal appointee to the Senate protested the tax was “ideological.”.Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) earlier said Canadians, not foreign speculators, were to blame for bidding up house prices..“The very folks who peddled stories about rampant foreign buying in Vancouver and the uncritical media who bought into those stories did more to harm housing affordability than the foreign buyers themselves,” Woo wrote in an April 20, 2018 tweet..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
