BC Grean Party leader Andrew Weaver wants to see the speculation and vacancy tax rescinded. BC Green Party
Spec tax woes: B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver wants NDP's new tax nixed
CITIFIED.CA STAFF
Published January 21, 2019
B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver hopes the province’s newly implemented speculation and vacancy tax (SVT) will be nixed, according to recent statements the politician made before local media.
Negative fallout from the implementation of the NDP’s tax on homeowners, which Weaver called a “dog’s breakfast” during a conversation with the Times Colonist’s Katie DeRosa, has convinced the party leader that he should work towards the SVT’s dissolution.
“People have no idea how much crap we got out of that speculation tax,” he told DeRosa. “Now my job is to get the NDP to recognize it’s a stupid tax and get rid of it.”
Despite his decision to back the empty homes measure if the NDP agreed to Green-sponsored amendments – namely to ensure all Canadians with properties that fall within reach of the tax pay the same 0.5% taxation rate – Weaver now says his support for the NDP’s theoretical solution to housing affordability was seeded in protecting the Green and NDP alliance from being toppled.
“What we’re very clear about — is this was obviously a confidence measure,” Weaver said to Vancouver Sun reporter Rob Shaw. “I was willing to take it to the line on the confidence measure if Canadians were not [taxed at] the same [rate].”
Weaver's course of action in pursuit of removing the SVT has not been outlined by his party.
Last week the province announced homeowners would have until March 31, 2019 to declare details pertaining to their real-estate assets within areas of the province that fall within taxation zones, or face fees.
Properties not declared by March 31, 2019 or which qualify for the tax will receive a special tax notice of assessment payable by July 2, 2019.
The new tax, as it pertains to unrented residential real-estate owned by Canadians who do not pay income taxes in British Columbia or British Columbians with one or more secondary residences that are not part of the rental pool, will be levied to the tune of 0.5% of the home’s assessed value starting with the 2018 assessment and each year thereafter. Foreign owners and their satellite families will be assessed at a rate of 0.5% in 2018 and 2% each year thereafter.
If a secondary residence or vacation home is occupied by a renter for six or more months of the year the speculation tax will not apply.
At 0.5%, costs to homeowners will amount to $2,500 in 2018 for a home valued at $500,000 and $10,000 in 2019 if the owner is a foreigner. The tax and will be levied in addition to property taxes.
The NDP rolled out the SVT in early 2018 as a means of turning empty homes into housing for British Columbians and raising revenues to build affordable housing. The tax will also generate revenues from foreigners who do not pay provincial income taxes. C
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