NDP aims to capitalize on Liberals' opposition to empty homes tax
The B.C. New Democrats are betting that a Liberal promise to scrap the popular speculation and vacancy tax on empty homes will backfire.
A Facebook ad placed by the NDP over the weekend touting the benefits of the tax drew more than 2,500 likes and 1,600-plus comments. Nearly 4,000 people have signed the attached petition, which requires you to supply the party with your email address and phone number.
The tax targets foreign owners of homes in B.C. and Canadians who leave their second homes empty. It may be one of the most popular taxes in history, with 68 to 88 per cent support in polls over the past two years.
“It's easy to like a tax you don't have to pay,” said University of British Columbia political scientist Richard Johnston. “Most of the people who pay it probably won't even vote here.”
Vacant homes are subject to a two per cent annual tax on the value of the property. The tax has raised about $115 million for affordable housing, according to the government.
People who complained about the tax in comments were quickly swarmed with derisive responses, while others wondered why the government isn't doing more to make housing affordable.
“This Earth provides for everything we need, so how did we come to calling people homeless?” asked Vancouver resident Janice McQuarrie. “I don't think this or any previous government is doing enough to make housing affordable.”
“Even renting is out of reach for the so-called middle class,” she said. “Wages are nowhere near the living income needed in Vancouver.”
NDP MLA Selina Robinson noted that 11,000 condos have been added to the rental market since the tax was implemented. She warned that B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson's promise to replace the tax would “turn those rentals back into empty condos.”
“Andrew Wilkinson might think that high housing costs are wacky. British Columbians don't,” she said, referencing the Liberal leader's renting-is-wacky-fun gaffe.
Wilkinson continued on the theme of tax cuts Monday with a promise to reduce the provincial sales tax to zero for one year and then three per cent the next.
“This is an unprecedented tax cut for an unprecedented time,” he said in a Twitter ad released to coincide with the campaign announcement. “Since everybody pays PST, everybody saves under a B.C. Liberal plan right away.”
The Twitter ad includes a link to a petition of support that asks for the signee's email address.
Kamloops MLA Todd Stone said a Liberal government would instead target “paper flipping,” in which people buy unbuilt condos and flip them for a profit before construction is finished.
“(The vacancy tax) is anything but a speculation tax. It unfairly punishes British Columbians and had the effect of reducing the number of new housing units under construction,” he said.
While the speculation and vacancy tax has brought in $115 million, revenue from the property transfer tax dropped by more than $300 million over the same period, he said.
“When you peel back the layers of this onion, you can see that revenue is down and that (the tax) has put a chokehold on new housing construction,” said Stone.