Tax will devastate island residents

Re: “Out-of-province owners, stop whining,” letter, March 6. The letter-writer shows no sympathy for out-of-province Canadian owners of B.C. properties, but does he understand that the new speculation tax will also apply to B.C. residents who own two homes?

B.C. residents will be given a tax credit, not an exemption, and the majority of the tax will not be recoverable through a tax credit unless your taxable income is extremely high.

Furthermore, the vast majority of Albertans the writer has no sympathy for have homes in vacation areas such as Salt Spring, Pender and Galiano islands, etc. They fall within the speculation-tax areas, but don’t have the housing crisis of Vancouver and Victoria.

The tax is so extreme many will be forced to sell, which will devastate the housing market in those areas. Every full-time resident in those areas will see significant losses in the value of their properties and will have a hard time selling unless they are willing to accept very low offers. So, for all those B.C. residents, the speculation tax, even if applied only to non-B.C. residents, will have longterm devastating consequences.

Go ahead, complain about wealthy Albertans, but understand that the areas affecting those Albertans don’t have the housing crisis of the major cities and don’t have the homelessness issues of the major cities, and the tax will crush many B.C. homeowners in those areas where most properties are vacation homes.