Premier Clark Sticking With Controversial Tax, Saying It Is Doing Exactly What It's Intended To Do  – Decrease Home Prices And Sales!

"Loopholes in the tax have allowed for the continued use of bare trusts, enabling those with the financial funds to avoid the tax altogether," NDP leader John Horgan wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Premier Christy Clark. Horgan also warns that the Metro Vancouver focus of the new tax may drive the problem to other areas of the province. “The tax appears to be failing to accomplish its only objective: making homes in this province more affordable,” Horgan said. To improve the tax – Horgan is offering three key New Democrat amendments that were rejected by the Clark government in July. Those amendments would ensure that those who come to this province to live and work will not be faced with a punitive tax when they buy a home. They would also expand the tax to apply to investors who buy property here, but don’t pay income tax in the province, and remove the bare trust loophole. But Clark told the media this week that the plunge in real estate sales and deceleration in price increases in the Vancouver area last month were exactly what the government was trying to manoeuvre, and said there will be no changes to the foreign-buyers tax.

By PD Raj

VICTORIA– Premier Christy Clark’s foreign home-buyers tax has failed to improve housing affordability and needs to be fixed by the amendments proposed by New Democrats during July debates in the legislature, NDP leader John Horgan wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Premier Christy Clark.

After years of allowing the housing market to overheat, writes Horgan, the B.C. Liberals “rushed in ill-considered legislation without fully considering the consequences.”

“Christy Clark has now called our housing market a “bubble” and finally admits there’s a real affordability crisis for people and families, but her actions have done nothing to make the rental or purchase of a home more affordable,” Horgan said.

But Clark told the media this week that the plunge in real estate sales and deceleration in price increases in the Vancouver area last month were exactly what the government was trying to manoeuvre, and said there will be no changes to the foreign-buyers tax.

Clark told reporters Tuesday that her government will not reconsider the 15-per-cent tax that is intended to calm what she called a "distorted market."

For Real estate stories 00044106A [PNG Merlin Archive][/caption]"The prices were going up way too fast and if we helped slow that down, that's good," she said.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver announced last Friday that August sales were down by 26 per cent compared with last year, signalling a return to more typical levels.

The largest drop in property sales last month was among detached homes, with a decrease of 44.5 per cent.

Clark stressed that changes to the new legislation are not an option and even went further saying the government will be doing even more to try to address housing affordability in Metro Vancouver.

But Horgan said it’s been a month since Bill 28 came into effect, and the B.C. Liberal tax is “both failing to address the real problems facing Lower Mainland residents and creating significant unintended consequences.”

Since the tax was introduced, B.C. families have found themselves in the middle of failed property deals, while everyone from families looking to build a life in the province to professionals recruited by B.C. companies have suddenly been hit with a punitive tax when they try to buy a home.

At the same time, Horgan writes, loopholes in the tax have allowed for the continued use of bare trusts, enabling those with the financial funds to avoid the tax altogether. Horgan also warns that the Metro Vancouver focus of the new tax may drive the problem to other areas of the province.

“The tax appears to be failing to accomplish its only objective: making homes in this province more affordable,” Horgan said.

Horgan says it’s clear that the tax needs to be improved, and suggests three key New Democrat amendments that were rejected by the Clark government in July.

Those amendments would ensure that those who come to this province to live and work will not be faced with a punitive tax when they buy a home. They would also expand the tax to apply to investors who buy property here, but don’t pay income tax in the province, and remove the bare trust loophole.

“Your inaction over the past two years has created an affordability crisis in the Lower Mainland real estate market. Your inaction has made it nearly impossible for average British Columbians to find a home to buy or rent in the Lower Mainland,” writes Horgan.

“With that in mind, I strongly encourage you to take steps to remedy the shortcomings in Bill 28 during the fall sitting of the legislature.”