City of Vancouver discounts on Property Taxes - BC Supreme Court Round 1

[misher]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

This is true, but if higher levels of government aren't doing their part to fix these things, the municipal level doesn't have much of a choice, as ultimately they're the ones most affected. Obviously there are things the city could do too, but there's really only so much.

It always surprises me when people talk about the City of Vancouver needing to do more to improve housing affordability, when to me it was very clearly a provincial issue. If the problem extends far outside Vancouver, it's not their fault or problem to exclusively solve.

The speculation tax is BC wide but it feels like this tax was pushed by Vancouver voters.

In the end though everything is getting pretty high and the government is doing little to solve it. Gas prices are high yet they just added on a new tax. Real estate prices are high and they added on more taxes. When things get high, they tax it to go higher! A reminder that while real estate prices might have gone down the increased taxes kind of eliminate the savings.

[GenWhy?]

From the BC government's website: "The speculation tax applies only in BC’s largest urban centres: Metro Vancouver, the Capital Regional District (excluding the Gulf Islands and Juan de Fuca), Kelowna and West Kelowna, Nanaimo-Lantzville, Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission."

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by misher

The speculation tax is BC wide but it feels like this tax was pushed by Vancouver voters.

In the end though everything is getting pretty high and the government is doing little to solve it. Gas prices are high yet they just added on a new tax. Real estate prices are high and they added on more taxes. When things get high, they tax it to go higher! A reminder that while real estate prices might have gone down the increased taxes kind of eliminate the savings.

I think Metro Vancouver voters pushed for it, not just Vancouver proper voters.

And taxes will only increase housing prices for those who don't plan on living in them. They can double for all I care.

[misher]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I think Metro Vancouver voters pushed for it, not just Vancouver proper voters.

And taxes will only increase housing prices for those who don't plan on living in them. They can double for all I care.

The tax was originally BC wide and due to a lot of conflict they exempted certain regions.

But anyway, the attitude that because it doesn't affect you its ok to do is a bad policy. We're taxing people with vacation homes in places where only a vacation home makes sense which is ridiculous. It kills the market in these areas and will turn them into ghost towns.