Impose transfer tax on all transactions

Re: Transfer tax may heat up other housing markets, and Foreign buyer tax will not be changed, premier says, July 28

We have two big problems relating to residential real estate in B.C. The first is the im- pact of offshore investment on our market. The second is the impact of high-income owners of real estate avoiding income taxes by claiming to be non-residents.

We could kill two birds with one stone by imposing the new 15 per cent property transfer tax on all residential real estate transactions in B.C. and then allowing those who have paid income taxes in the past to reduce or eliminate their PTT liability.

Perhaps the province would also consider refunding the collected tax in future years for those who begin paying income tax after their purchase. By leveraging the new PTT on all transactions, the province is relieved of the burden of dealing with compliance.

By providing credit for past or future income taxes, the province is recognizing the need to extract some form of tax from non-residents who are presently taking advantage of Canada’s tax code without penalizing those who do pay income tax. Tom Polgreen, Vancouver