Coalition will fight spec tax
Trevor Nichols - Apr 10, 2018 - Biz Releases

Image: The Canadian Press

Okanagan business and development organizations are banding together in an attempt to pressure the provincial government to scrap its planned “speculation tax.”

Announced as part of the latest provincial budget, the tax would see some homeowners who aren’t using their B.C. homes as primary residences hit with a yearly tax.

The tax, which will only be charged in specific areas of the province (including Kelowna and West Kelowna), is intended to “penalize people who have been parking their capital in our housing market simply to speculate, driving up prices and removing rental stock,” according to Finance Minister Carol James.

An Insights West poll taken shortly after the tax was announced saw 81 per cent of participants respond in favour of the tax, but in regions where the tax will be enforced popular sentiment is starkly different.

Both Kelowna and West Kelowna city councils have officially spoken out against the tax, and a Change.org petition asking the provincial government to eliminate the tax has garnered more than 16,000 signatures.

The Scrap the Speculation Tax coalition says it’s advocating for all those against the tax. Its members include the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Victoria, The Canadian Home Builders Association Okanagan Chapter, UDI Okanagan, the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce, and others.

“While the government wants to address housing affordability, this patchwork tax will do the exact opposite. It will kill jobs, hurt the B.C. tourism industry and make the housing affordability issue worse,” the coalition said in a recent press release.

It is calling on the province to “immediately scrap” the tax, and take a number of steps to address housing affordability.

“We’ve joined this growing coalition on behalf of our many members, and the large group of business people and visitors to the Okanagan who have let us know this tax could be ruinous to their businesses and to their personal plans to maintain a home in Kelowna,” says Kelowna chamber president Carmen Sparg.

“New housing stock, vacation properties, downstream retail purchasers by summer and winter visitors—all are threatened by this punitive tax.”

Late last month James narrowed the scope the tax (presumably in response to negative feedback) but doubled down on it in principle, reaffirming it will take effect in Kelowna and West Kelowna and that it won’t apply to 99 per cent of British Columbians.


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