Salaries flatlined and real estate prices soared.
Those were the conditions that sent droves of young people away from Burnaby and other Lower Mainland municipalities in search of a place they might someday buy or, more likely, rent.
That left governments in the difficult position of deciding what – if anything – to do about it.
To help the squeezed generation, the B.C. Liberals let the market try to right itself.
It didn’t.
After giving the live-and-let-live approach ample time, the Liberals introduced the foreign buyers tax. The tax – like all taxes paid by other people – was popular. As a bonus, the measure allowed British Columbians to blame our affordability woes on foreigners.
Reaction to the NDP’s speculation tax has been mixed, with certain property owners pleading poverty.
However, it’s difficult to muster much sympathy for someone who has made a second trip to the buffet while hungry people are still at the back of the line.
Critics allege the tax will hurt the house-rich and cash-poor. It may, but the difficulty is that so many who are house rich just claim to be cash poor.
The tax – which addresses speculation only in name – does little to halt house flipping. We also wonder how many satellite homeowners will evade the provincial government’s radar.
The NDP seems to have met criticism with appeasement, exempting vacation homes as well as properties in Squamish, Bowen Island, Parksville and Qualicum Beach while slashing the tax.
But even reduced to 0.5 per cent, the tax is a necessary step to de-commodify our housing market.
Taken alone, this measure won’t usher in affordability. But, after spending a generation estranged, the tax may help put salaries and real estate prices back on speaking terms.
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