B.C. Finance Minister Selina Robinson.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Province of B.C.
July 20, 2022 - 11:30 AM
British Columbia's controversial speculation and vacancy tax is expending to more parts of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland next year.
Kelowna and West Kelowna will continue to be the only cities outside those regions where the tax is collected, despite the fact that it appears to have had minimal impact there.
“We are in the middle of a housing crises, a housing shortage, and getting as much as we can to the market for rental is critical,” Finance Minister Selina Robinson said when asked by iNFOnews.ca at a news briefing today, July 20, why the tax was still being applied for those cities.
She said the tax, since it started in 2018 as a way to cut down on people leaving homes vacant, has resulted in 20,000 condos being put into the rental market in the Lower Mainland.
But, that has not been the case in Kelowna and West Kelowna. In 2018, the tax as paid by only 612 properties in those two cities combined. In 2019, that number dropped by 64.
READ MORE: As the Central Okanagan grows, home speculation shrinks
“The hundreds of people who are housed in those communities, I think, would have something to say about not having a home they can afford,” Robinson said, even though the number affected is far from being in the hundreds.
“We also know those communities are growing,” she said. “We’re seeing more and more being built and we want to make sure that, as they’re built and as they come on line, that British Columbians can have a home. The housing crisis exists in the Okanagan. It exists on the Island. It exists in the Lower Mainland and we’re seeing it grow in other communities.”
The tax will be expanded to North Cowichan, Duncan, Ladysmith, Lake Cowichan, Lions Bay and Squamish.
When asked, if it’s so effective, why it wasn’t applied provincewide, Robinson said that different communities have different needs and the province will continue to monitor the tax.
She was also asked if there were plans to increase the rate from 2% for homes that are not owner-occupied. She said that, too, will be monitored.
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