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People who own very expensive homes got walloped by the provincial taxman last week and the NDP government figures you won’t have much sympathy for them.

The tax grab is a double whammy: The government jacked up the property-transfer tax and the school tax on homes valued at $3 million or more.

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The transfer tax kicks in when the home is sold and must be paid by the buyer. It potentially hurts the seller, too, if it erodes the asking price for the home.

The more immediate hit is the annual school tax: 0.2 per cent on the assessed value of a home between $3 million and $4 million, and 0.4 per cent on value over $4 million.

That triggered an angry response from people who are cash-poor and house-mega-rich, including retired economics professor David Tha, who owns a $6.5-million Point Grey home he bought 31 years ago for $370,000.

“We’re going to be taxed to death,” Tha told Postmedia reporter Rob Shaw in a story that went viral online.