Route links
- News
- Local news
- Houses
Squamish, Lions Bay, North Cowichan and Lake Cowichan are some of the townships where homeowners who leave their homes empty will have to pay an additional tax.
Date of publication:
July 20, 2022 • 6 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 30 comments Construction cranes rise over condominiums near southeast False Creek in Vancouver. Photo by DARRYL DYCK / Archives of the Canadian Press
Content of the article
BC is expanding the scope of its speculation tax and vacancies.
Announcement 2
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
The tax, which is intended to discourage speculation of homes and vacant homes in major urban centers, will soon apply to North Cowichan, Duncan, Ladysmith and Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island and Lions Bay and Squamish on the Sea Corridor. to Sky.
These new communities will be “protected” by the tax from 2023, BC Finance Minister Selina Robinson said Wednesday at a news conference.
“People in these communities have talked about the intense housing pressures they have faced, including speculation and the near-zero rental vacancy rate,” he said.
“After careful consideration and listening to people and community leaders about speculative real estate concerns in their communities, we are extending the tax to these additional areas facing strong real estate pressures.”
Announcement 3
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
The tax was introduced in 2018 by the NDP government as a way to discourage housing speculation and vacant homes. It was also aimed at foreign owners and satellite families who have Canadian citizenship but earn their income outside of Canada.
Currently, the tax applies to owners of vacant homes in the Metro Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Kelowna metropolitan areas. Foreign owners and satellite families pay a higher tax rate.
The decision to extend the tax to smaller communities was based on an independent review that found that these communities were experiencing housing pressures due to their state of exemption and their proximity to taxed communities, he said. dir Robinson.
“We watched how this tax developed,” he said. “A good analysis has been done and other places where it should be expanded were recommended, given the pressures that are being pushed outside of urban centers.”
Announcement 4
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
The expansion, however, did not extend to Whistler, a tourist town north of Squamish with a notorious housing crisis.
Robinson said Whistler’s status as a vacation tourist community meant it had “unique” housing challenges. The ministry is overseeing the housing market in Whistler and other tourist communities and will use other tools to address its problems, he added.
The ministry cited a recently released independent report that found that the speculation and vacancy tax works according to the intention to keep housing prices and rents lower.
The report, prepared by BC University professor Tsur Somerville and analyst Jake Wetzel, said the tax had contributed to the return of 20,000 condo units to the long-term Metro Vancouver market.
Announcement 5
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
It also added approximately $ 231 million to government coffers between 2018 and 2020, with 68% of revenue coming from foreign owners and satellite families.
BC Green MPs Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen said they had written to Robinson in February to ask for an extension of the tax in their districts.
Green leader Furstenau, who is also MLA of Cowichan Valley, welcomed the tax, but added that it is not a silver bullet. “We need to increase supply (especially for non-profit housing and co-ops), encourage municipalities to enact density zoning and more,” it said in a statement.
Olsen, who represents Saanich North and the islands, said he was disappointed that the islands in the southern Gulf were not included.
In response to NPD claims that Liberal leader Kevin Falcon would cancel the tax if elected, Falcon accused the NDP of doing politics with the housing crisis.
Announcement 6
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“I was very clear that I would not rule out the tax and would examine all the taxes the NDP has imposed on housing,” Falcon said in a statement Wednesday. “The cost of renting and buying in BC is higher than ever under the NDP and we should study measures that really address speculation, something the NDP is not doing.”
Falcon said BC needs to study other strategies to resolve the housing crisis, including increasing supply and reviewing the cumulative impact that housing taxes have on accessibility.
The speculation and vacancy tax levies an additional two percent on the appraised value of the property for foreign owners and satellite households, and an additional 0.5 percent for residents.
Homeowners must complete a return each year to declare their state of residence and how their property was used.
The tax will take effect in new communities in January 2023, meaning landlords will have to declare their situation for the first time in January 2024. There are exemptions for main homes, long-term tenant properties and other circumstances.
chchan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/cherylchan
Share this article on your social network
Announcement 1
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Sign up to receive daily news from the headlines of Vancouver Sun, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
By clicking the sign up button, you agree to receive the previous Postmedia Network Inc. newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thanks for signing up!
A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, check your trash folder.
The next issue of Vancouver Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox.
We encountered a problem registering you. Please try again
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil discussion forum and encouraging all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments can take up to an hour to moderate before appearing on the site. We ask that you keep your comments relevant and respectful. We’ve enabled email notifications – you will now receive an email if you receive a response to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you are following, or if a user is still commenting. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.