Re: “Two-thirds of homes hit by new speculation tax will be B.C.-owned,” May 17.
Finance Minister Carole James has the declared intention of adding affordable housing to the rental or purchase market. I question whether this super-tax will accomplish anything toward that laudable goal. What it definitely will do is punish B.C. homeowners who have a ski cottage or a summer cabin.
I calculated that the super-tax would add an annual bill of about $6,000 on top of the two property tax bills I already willingly pay for my one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver and my co-op home on Saturna Island.
James “tweaked” the proposed bill to exempt me in the Gulf Islands. Thank you. But what about the thousands of other British Columbians who have not been “tweaked”? What about the average-income Richmond family that we sometimes rent a ski-cabin from in the Okanagan for a week? They’re not going to sell their cabin or their Richmond house, so how will charging them an annual additional tax of $6,000 improve the lot of people who “couldn’t even dream of having one home”? It’s a tax grab.
It’s a terribly miscalculated law. James should tell her theorizing boffins to rethink the whole thing and try to come back with a law that will actually increase affordable-housing units without slapping down those who have had the temerity to expand to a vacation cottage.
Bill Schermbrucker
Saturna Island
