The incumbent BC New Democratic Party is planning to raise the Speculation and Vacancy Tax for both local and foreign owners if elected in this month’s upcoming provincial election.
NDP Leader David Eby made the campaign promise Friday morning in a rainy Vancouver, explaining, “If you’re struggling with housing costs, our plan will crack down on those looking to make a quick buck to get even more homes back on the market for people.”
The raise would mean local Canadian residents would see their vacancy tax rise to one per cent, up from its current 0.5 per cent. For foreign owners, the tax would be raised to three per cent, up from its current two per cent.
“The goal of this tax has always been that nobody pays the tax,” Eby explained. “You can avoid the tax one of two ways: If you’re an international resident, you become a tax resident in British Columbia — you pay taxes that help pay for all the amazing services that people depend on, and you don’t just benefit from them. So that’s the one part. The other part is you rent out your vacant home, and it’s very easy to avoid the tax.”
“We have a very giant loophole that you can walk through. There’s an arrow pointing to it — rent out your vacant home, don’t pay the tax, make extra money from rent.”
Eby explains he’s heard from constituents that since introducing the speculation tax, former vacant houses are now homes to “a bunch of students … or a family moved in and they’re renting that place.”
“Here in Yaletown, you could look up at these towers and see dark windows where people were not living in condos, where they were held vacant as investments, and that’s not okay in a housing crisis. So, for those 20,000 families in Metro Vancouver alone that benefited from the speculation and vacancy tax, our commitment is that we can’t stop, and we’re not going to stop there,” he said.