Non-resident homeowners will face a 1% tax if their property remains vacant.
Isn't that more of an anti-China tax than anything? Vancouver has the same problem Seattle has (and had it first): Chinese buy up property as a way of getting money out of China and into stable assets in the West.
Quite a lot of stories about vacant condos and housing shortages as a result. I'm not sure I take much issue with this.
1% isn’t necessarily going to deter the Chinese from buying property, and I’m not convinced that Canada is actually going to enforce that law/bother to actually check whether someone is residing in a property or not.
Canada definitely enforces those types of laws. Usually with a "we deem you to have not lived there, it's now on you and your costly lawyers or accountants to prove you did, otherwise, fork over the money to us."
It's "free" money, and they need to pay for their healthcare system somehow.
Seriously. I've seen letters from the government asking people to prove they weren't having sex with a housemate. Not only proving a negative, but proving a private and unbroadcasted negative. Because the gov't would make more money if they "deemed" the two were common-law married (which means in a sexual relationship in the same roof for over a year), they said it must be so and left it on the two dorm-mates to prove they WEREN'T fucking.
I missed this one.
"Spend your money on us or be taxed to death." - The Matriarchy.
Isn't that more of an anti-China tax than anything? Vancouver has the same problem Seattle has (and had it first): Chinese buy up property as a way of getting money out of China and into stable assets in the West.
Quite a lot of stories about vacant condos and housing shortages as a result. I'm not sure I take much issue with this.
1% isn’t necessarily going to deter the Chinese from buying property, and I’m not convinced that Canada is actually going to enforce that law/bother to actually check whether someone is residing in a property or not.
Canada definitely enforces those types of laws. Usually with a "we deem you to have not lived there, it's now on you and your costly lawyers or accountants to prove you did, otherwise, fork over the money to us."
It's "free" money, and they need to pay for their healthcare system somehow.
Seriously. I've seen letters from the government asking people to prove they weren't having sex with a housemate. Not only proving a negative, but proving a private and unbroadcasted negative. Because the gov't would make more money if they "deemed" the two were common-law married (which means in a sexual relationship in the same roof for over a year), they said it must be so and left it on the two dorm-mates to prove they WEREN'T fucking.