We know you have a lot of questions about the new tax on foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver.
We have answers to those questions.
Rest assured, we at the province of B.C. are here to help.
Q: For months – even years – the province has ruled out a foreign-buyer tax, suggesting that it would send a signal that B.C. didn't welcome foreign investment, that it could damage the equity that hard-working families had built up in their homes and that any revenue raised by the tax would be negligible. In fact, the government has actually ridiculed those who suggested such a tax. What happened?
A: Polls.
Q: What happened to concerns about reducing the equity of homeowners who have invested a lifetime of work into their homes?
A: Let's be honest, they got lucky.
Q: Did the government purposely mislead the public about the tax to lull people into a sense of complacency and prevent a run on the real estate market?
A: Maybe.
Q: How did we arrive at the 15-per-cent figure?
A: It's Finance Minster Mike de Jong's lucky number: 15, black.
Q: While this tax may be aimed at ultrarich foreign investors parking their wealth in Vancouver as a safe haven, has the government considered the consequences for working professionals hoping to relocate to the Lower Mainland from the United States or abroad, who hope to gain permanent resident status and who have gainful employment here where their experience and expertise is an asset to the local economy?
A: Not really.
Q: But why not exempt those purchasers who are awaiting permanent residency, who have paid Canadian income tax and who have demonstrated that they plan to make a life here?
A: That is so complicated.
Q: So, could pending deals collapse?
A: Yep.
Q: Why introduce the tax now?
A: We now have five whole weeks of ironclad data.
Q: Is it true that so-called birth tourists – those who travel to Canada to give birth, thereby securing Canadian citizenship for their newborn children – will be exempt from the tax?
A: No. Not unless the infant is able to make a mark on the sales contract.
Q: Is it not true that the property-transfer tax has been a windfall for B.C's economy, allowing the government to – at least on paper – balance its budget?
A: You bet.
Q: Will wealthy foreign investors simply regard this tax as the cost of doing business?
A: We sure hope so.
Q: How will you know if the tax is working?
A: If the market tanks, or we rake in a pile of money.
Q: Aren't there loopholes in the legislation big enough to drive a truck through?
A: Not a really big truck.
Q: Will the tax do anything to increase the supply of housing in Metro Vancouver?
A: That's a municipal issue.
Q: What will the introduction of this tax do to bring down the cost of housing in Metro Vancouver for people who live and work here?
A: Almost nothing.
Q: Then why introduce the tax at all?
A: Polls. And bad press. And a spring, 2017, election.
Stephen Quinn is the host of On the Coast on CBC Radio One, 88.1 FM and 690 AM in Metro Vancouver.