Vancouver council to vote on empty homes tax

A vote at Vancouver city council this week is expected move the proposed empty-home tax one step closer to reality but not everyone thinks that's a step in the right direction.

The proposed scheme would level a one per cent tax on homes that aren't principal residences and aren't rented out for at least six months per year.

The tax was on the agenda for Tuesday's council meeting. It was discussed for some time before being postponed to tomorrow's City Finances and Services committee meeting.

If approved, the tax would be the first of its kind in the country.

Mayor Gregor Robertson, an advocate of the tax, has said it will persuade owners of thousands of empty apartments and houses to put them up for rent.

"There's almost no rental stock available. We're anticipating that this will be enough incentive for people to do that, or they're going to end up paying an additional tax," he told CBC's On the Coast on Thursday.

Robertson has called the measure a way to combat what he called the housing crisis in Vancouver, and justified the tax as a "business tax" on owners he said were treating housing as an investment property.

Vocal opposition

The tax however has detractors, including NPA Councillor George Affleck, who told CBC's The Early Edition the tax will not add to the city's rental stock.

"They're saying this is going to create a whole bunch of rental apartments — that's bull. That's not going to happen," he said.

"What we're going to do is create a huge bureaucracy in the city."

He's not the only one — Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Homeowners Association, has argued many of the properties targeted by the tax are luxury homes and the owners will be reluctant to rent them out.

Affleck also questioned whether requiring owners to report the residential status of their home themselves will be an effective method of assessing the tax.

"I think it's going to create a culture of dishonesty in the city because people will find ways around it, which is never a good thing in a tax," he said.

Other critics — like Michael Ferreira of Urban Analytics — have said the same, saying the tax will not be good for community moral and might even inspire neighbours to snitch on one another.

Robertson has said owners who try to skirt the rules will face severe penalties and the city is planning on doing random audits to catch cheaters.

If the tax is approved, staff have said it will be implemented in early 2017 with the first payments due in 2018.

With files from The Early Edition

To listen to the interview, click on the link labelled Vancouver city councillor questions empty homes tax