Rhys Kesselman – Attacking High Housing Prices by Making Property Tax Progressive
From: Rhys Kesselman To: Ministers of Finance in BC and Ontario Date: August 18, 2016 Re: Attacking High Housing Prices by Making Property Tax Progressive In July the B.C. government legislated a steep property transfer tax on foreign purchasers of homes in the Metro Vancouver area. While the new transfer tax is overtly discriminatory by nationality, […]Lawson Hunter – Time to decide if cultural policy is to promote winners or protect the losers
From: Lawson Hunter To: The Hon. Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage Date: August 16, 2016 Re: Time to decide if cultural policy is to promote winners or protect the losers As you move forward with the detailed consultations on the Cultural Policy Review the key issue is whether your government plans to promote “industrial policy” as opposed to […]Ben Dachis – Property Transfer Taxes hurt Current Homeowners, not Foreign Buyers
From: Benjamin Dachis To: Governments of Ontario and BC Date: August 11, 2016 Re: Property Transfer Taxes hurt Current Homeowners, not Foreign Buyers Starting August 2, the province of British Columbia collects a 15 percent property transfer tax on purchases of real estate by non-Canadian people and corporations. That is on top of the existing 3 percent […]Vancouver’s New Foreign-buyer Tax – Beware Of Unintended Consequences: Globe And Mail Op-ed
Last week, a new tax introduced by the B.C. government came into effect with the goal of slowing down the unrelenting increases in Vancouver-area house prices. The additional 15-per-cent transfer tax specifically targets foreign nationals looking to buy real estate.
We must ask whether it will meet its stated objective of making Vancouver housing more affordable for the so-called middle class and, perhaps more important, what are its unintended consequences?
Whether or not Vancouver housing prices fall – or their increase moderates – as a result of this tax depends on a host of factors. There are many different possible reactions by foreign buyers.
I’ll focus on three possible scenarios.
In the first, foreign…
Jennifer Y. Tsao – How to Increase Affordable Rental Units in BC
From: Jennifer Y. Tsao To: Hon. Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia Date: August 10th, 2016 Re: How to Increase Affordable Rental Units in BC On June 24th, BC Premier Christy Clark released a video proposing six principles to alleviate the affordable housing crisis in the Lower Mainland. One of the principles is to increase the […]Dachis, Tsao – Get rid of Jurassic Parking
From: Benjamin Dachis and Jennifer Y. Tsao To: Finding the Parking Sweet Spot Date: July 28, 2016 RE: Get rid of Jurassic Parking You’ve had a bruising battle stuck between taxi companies and Uber. The next battle in the sharing economy is coming, and it will be over street parking. What should you do? The […]Cheshire, Hilber, & Koster – You Cannot Regulate Empty Houses Away
From: Paul Cheshire, Christian Hilber and Hans Koster To: Municipal Councils and Provincial Housing Ministries in Major Cities Date: July 27, 2016 Re: You cannot regulate empty houses away House prices in Vancouver and other large cities in Canada have been soaring. Despite this, many houses appear to be vacant. Many observers blame foreign buyers […]Robert Mysicka – Regulate This! Realtors Will Lose Privilege of Self-Regulation in B.C
From: Robert Mysicka To: Hon. Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia Date: July 26, 2016 Re: Regulate This! Realtors Will Lose Privilege of Self-Regulation in B.C The cost of real estate is a hot topic issue for would-be homeowners in Canada. Vancouver and Toronto are now topping the list of unaffordability with average house prices in May, […]Intelligence Chat – A Blueprint for Getting Green Tech Right
Here’s how government can efficiently support the development of green energy technology. Read the full report