Speculation tax for people with second homes is fair
Bryant Stooks’ op-ed Tuesday opposing the speculator tax fails to consider an important fact: Many people who live in B.C. 365 days a year cannot afford housing.
The small businesses Stooks says he is proud to support with his occasional presence at his North Saanich vacation home include restaurants and service-sector businesses, the types of businesses that often pay at or near the minimum wage.
Stooks is fortunate to be able to afford a home where he can spend quality time with family and friends. But British Columbians also need housing, which seems to be in short supply.
The most efficient and fairest way to address this significant problem is to tax those who can afford it. To say otherwise reeks of the worst sort of “let them eat cake” mentality. Debra Rolfe, Vancouver
Tax is dividing society
The NDP’s speculation tax is simply a bad tax. Taxes should be fair and reasonable. Reasonable because the taxpayer must be able to pay, and fair because taxes have the potential to create resentment and divide our society.
This tax is unreasonable because it will force many long-term owners of second homes to sell. These owners are not speculators. They bought a second home in B.C. because this is where they want to live at least for some time. The NDP plays the “us versus them card” by portraying these owners as foreigners from outside the country, or outside the province or even outside the community and branding them as selfish speculators and therefore subject to this tax.
I hope that this is merely a poorly thought out tax, subject to revision, and not a cynical attempt to mine new taxes through the strategy of “us versus them.” There are better ways to make housing more available and affordable in B.C. It is not too late to back away from this divisive and destructive tax if the NDP can muster the courage. Michael Edwards, Garibaldi Highlands
In it to serve — themselves!
The Metro Vancouver directors should have put all raises and remuneration increases to their boss for approval — that being the voters via a referendum. It seems most politicians, regardless of political affiliation, are all the same. They are in it to serve — themselves, that is. It is no wonder people are disillusioned with politics. Perry Coleman, Delta
What if officer didn’t shoot?
West Kootenay RCMP Const. Jason Tait was charged Tuesday with manslaughter for shooting Waylon Edey, a suspected drunk driver. In January 2015, after Edey rammed Tait’s police cruiser and was continuing in Tait’s direction on a highway near Castlegar. The officer had a choice: Stop this suspected drunk driver from escaping or let him continue being a risk to the public.
Have we forgotten that drunk drivers kill hundreds of innocent people every year in this country? Assuming Tait didn’t stop the drunk driver and the result was a fatal accident with innocent victims, would he have been charged with criminal negligence for not doing his duty?
Fortunately, that is the dilemma most of us will never have to face in our careers, but police officers frequently have to make split-second choices like this. And for that, we prosecute them for trying keep us safe. D’Arcy Leoppky, Maple Ridge