Vancouver economists have come up with some policy ideas to curb the city’s runaway home prices — but it’s questionable whether there is any political appetite to take them up.
A team of nine academics from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU) have proposed a 1.5 per cent property tax surcharge, designed so that homeowners who live in the property and pay income taxes in British Columbia would be exempt. Read the full policy proposal here.
For example, the owners of a $1 million home would pay a $15,000 surcharge, but if they had paid $15,000 or more in income taxes to Canada Revenue Agency that year, the surcharge would be zero. If they paid $10,000 in taxes, their property surcharge would be $5,000. Veterans, disabled people, and Canadians of retirement age would be exempt.
Along with cities such as New York, London and Sydney, Vancouver has become an attractive place for wealthy people from emerging economy countries to “park” their money in real estate, especially during periods of economic or political turmoil.
