Owners of vacant properties are about to pay more in six parts of British Columbia.
The province announced Wednesday that its speculation and vacancy tax — colloquially known as the vacant home tax — will be expanded in January.
Homeowners in the following communities will have to pay extra for vacant homes: Squamish, Lions Bay, North Cowichan, Duncan, Ladysmith and Lake Cowichan.
Noticeably absent is the resort municipality of Whistler.
Those who live in the area and rent out their homes full-time or live in them will first need to claim a 2023 exemption in January 2024.
The provincial government estimates that more than 99 percent of property owners are exempt.
Those who do not will be expected to pay, except in special circumstances. The rate is two percent of the property’s assessed value for foreign owners and satellite families and 0.5 percent for Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are not members of a satellite family.
“Satellite” is a term used for worldwide untaxed income or those whose unreported income (in Canada) is greater than reported total income. This income is calculated in combination with the spouse’s income where applicable.
The plan for the tax was to free up homes that could be rented out full-time to local residents instead of sitting empty. Other targets include targeting apartment predators and tax evaders.
The NDP government says it has worked in communities where the tax is already in place, but Whistler was again left off the list announced Wednesday despite a documented lack of rent.
A year before the tax was first implemented, local business owners told CTV News that the wait for rental housing could be three to 10 years.
When the tax was introduced in 2018, then-Finance Minister Carol James announced a narrowing of its scope so that it would not affect British Columbians who own cottages and vacation properties outside urban areas.
Taxable regions in addition to those to be added next year are:
- District Capital Region;
- Metro Vancouver;
- Abbotsford;
- Mission;
- Chilliwack;
- Kelowna and West Kelowna;
- Nanaimo; and
- Lantzville.
Detailed maps can be viewed online.
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