WE SHOULDN’T TAX BUILDINGS IN A HOUSING CRISIS
In their current form, our property taxes discourage much-needed new housing—while doing little to deter those who are actively hoarding land and homes. We need an overhaul if we’re serious about housing affordability, and luckily, we don’t have to look far for the answer. Currently, our property taxes are charged by rates applied at the municipal level, on values assessed by BC Assessment. These include two components: the market value of the land itself, and the market value of any buildings...
read moreSTEEP MUNICIPAL FEES FOR NEW HOUSING ARE “HIDDEN” IN PRICES AND RENTS
“Bribes are like steroids – everyone’s doing it. And if you don’t do it, you fall behind,” revealing that bribery in a commercial setting is a “hidden standard” of doing business with governments, according to The Globe & Mail. So it should be no surprise that in many cities, getting approval for housing projects involves questionable, even illegal fees paid to local governments that accumulated massive slush funds as a result. Builders must pay to play. For example, a Vancouver...
read moreFEDS’ NEW UNDERUSED HOUSING TAX WON’T JUST AFFECT FOREIGN OWNERS
Clients who own residential property through a trust, a private corporation or a partnership should know they must file a return under the federal government’s new underused housing tax (UHT) regime, even if they owe no taxes. The penalties for filing after the April 30 deadline (May 1, 2023, for the 2022 tax year) are stiff: at least $5,000 for individuals, and $10,000 for corporations, for each residential property. If tax is payable, penalties may climb higher the later the return is filed,...
read moreOTTAWA UNVEILS DETAILS OF NOVA SCOTIA CARBON TAX THAT WILL TAKE EFFECT NEXT SUMMER
Ottawa will impose a carbon tax on consumer fuels in Nova Scotia next year after the provincial government refused to develop its own pricing scheme, a decision the federal environment minister said baffled him. Steven Guilbeault delivered the details during a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday. Nova Scotians can expect the price of a litre of gas to increase by about 13 cents, while home heating fuel will go up by about 15 cents per litre. Guilbeault said those increases would be offset for...
read moreLIBERAL TAX ON REITS WOULD BE A MISTAKE
A recent announcement from the Liberal Party to review tax-advantaged REITs is drawing concerns that changes could curtail investment – and worsen supply issues are the core of housing affordability. “We will undertake a review of the tax treatment of large corporate owners of residential properties such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) who are increasingly trying to amass large portfolios of Canadian rental housing, putting upward pressure on rents,” the announcement states, “We will...
read moreDREAM’S CEO SAYS TRUDEAU THREAT AGAINST REITS IS A ‘SIDESHOW’
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s threat to change tax rules for real estate investment trusts is a “sideshow” that will do nothing to affect home prices in Canada, according to one of the country’s largest publicly-traded real estate developers. The prime minister has promised to tackle the “financialization of the housing market” by the end of 2023, building on an election pledge last year to review the tax treatment of large corporate owners of residential properties such as REITs. As in the...
read moreTHE LIBERALS PLAN TO REVIEW TAX TREATMENT OF REITS. WILL THIS HELP RENTERS?
Tax experts say they’re unsure how Ottawa might target real estate investment trusts (REITs) that invest in rental residential housing, or indeed how a change to their tax treatment would help alleviate the issue of housing affordability in Canada. The federal Liberals promised to review, and possibly reform, the tax treatment of REITs as part of a broader strategy to make housing more affordable for ordinary Canadians and bring “fairness” to the housing market. “Large corporate owners of...
read more2022 FEDERAL BUDGET TO FOCUS ON HOUSING, TAX FAIRNESS: EXPERTS
The 2022 federal budget will probably include initiatives to curb speculation in real estate, boost productivity through targeted tax incentives and promote overall tax fairness, tax policy experts suggest. But the Liberal government is unlikely to introduce significant broad-based tax increases. “I sense a reluctance to raise the top rates further, because capital is mobile — it leaves the country,” said Carol Sadler, founder and tax leader with Achen Henderson LLP in Calgary, adding that she...
read moreMORE HOUSING TAXES WON’T HELP ANYONE, SAYS EBY
Housing Minister David Eby is rejecting calls for more housing taxes, saying a “massive” increase in the housing supply is his preferred route to improve housing affordability in B.C. “No tax policy is going to put a roof over someone’s head,” Eby declared this week in fending off calls for the New Democrats to bring in new taxes and thereby discourage demand. The proposal from UBC-based Generation Squeeze for a surtax on homes valued at more than $1 million? “I don’t agree,” Eby told Stephen...
read morePROPOSED SURTAX ON HOMES WORTH MORE THAN $1M RIDICULOUS
It took less than one week into 2022 for me to find that I needed to dig deep and fight the involuntary urge to slam my head into my keyboard upon reading of the latest proposal to cure our Canadian housing affordability crisis. Perhaps you missed it, lost in the deluge of media coverage of the absolute barn-burner that was the 2021 Canadian real estate market is a new report coming out of B.C. proposing a surtax on homes over $1 million. Published by Vancouver-based non-profit Generation...
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