PARKSVILLE
8
MARCH 2018
ANOTHER NDP TAX TO PREVENT BUSINESS FROM PROSPERING
PARKSVILLE KIM BURDEN
Y
ou have to wonder about an ideology that attempts to prevent businesses from prospering from dollars coming into a community from outside of the community. The announcement of a “speculation tax” in the recent BC Budget is said to target and thus prevent home ownership without occupancy by either an owner or a tenant. This is not a speculation tax. It is a vacant home tax. A vacant home tax aimed at improving the rental pool. A vacant home tax aimed at people who have come here from other places in BC and across Canada as an initial investment in
our communities with an eye to making BC their full time place of residence after retirement or when they are able to find sustainable employment here. The collateral damage of this tax will do exactly the opposite of what the stated intention is. It will not expand the rental pool it will actually deter investment in housing. It will discourage new construction and reduce housing starts which is what we need to increase the availability of rental and attainable housing. Pe ople who a re p u nished because they own a vacation home or have kept and are maintaining an inherited family home will sell those homes and return to their jurisdiction of employment. They will take with them the d ol l a rs t h e y s p e n d o n home maintenance and renovation and the dollars they spend on groceries, clothes, furniture, art and activities for the months they are in residence. The Parksville-Qualicum Beach region will be particularly hard hit by this
regressive tax. We are a well known retirement/ vacation destination. Our businesses thrive in part due to wealthy retirees who spend 6 months here and 6 months elsewhere. When those retirees tire of being punished not just once, like the property transfer tax, but every year they will sell and our businesses will suffer as a result. In terms of addressing affordability of housing, it is unlikely this will change anything on its own as it doesn’t address the supply issue and as stated it will serve to decrease the incentive to build. There is a need to rethink this strategy and look at other ways to improve the availability of rental and attainable housing. Focussing on incentives for developers to invest in our province and increase the housing supply would be a good start. Punishing snowbirds is not going to change the marketplace. Kim Burden is Executive Director of the Parksville Chamber of Commerce
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