B.C.’s proposed foreigner tax to help fund Metro Vancouver housing projects
VICTORIA — While buyers and sellers rush to avoid paying a new 15-per-cent property transfer tax in British Columbia, Premier Christy Clark’s Liberal government apparently can’t wait to start building its election platform on a housing foundation.
Hours before the government passed a law Thursday imposing the additional tax on homes bought in Metro Vancouver by foreign nationals, the government was already banking on the returns to fund housing initiatives in the months leading up to next May’s B.C. election.
“If foreign purchases continue at the pace they’ve been at, it’s a sizable amount of money,” said Finance Minister Mike de Jong.
The Liberals’ housing bill passed unanimously Thursday evening with support from the Opposition NDP.