Article content continued

The Mansion Tax proposal is nothing more than a graduated tax on property, similar to the graduated income taxes we all pay to the federal and provincial governments each year: low-income people pay a lower rate than middle- or upper-income people. However, all property in B.C. is taxed at only one rate. It’s the same rate for a mansion owner and a bachelor condo owner.

That isn’t fair, especially given the massive property appreciation that has taken place these past five years. Land values in Vancouver increased by $90 billion in the last year alone (2016-17).

What’s even more unfair about the tax system is that when resident homeowners sell their properties, they do not pay taxes on the gain in value since the home was purchased. Owners of properties that are secondary residences or commercial businesses have to pay a capital gains tax on 50 per cent of their profit when they sell.

Although some mansion owners may be hard-pressed to pay the bills each year, they still have more options than people living on the street. One is to defer if the owner is over 55 or a family with children. Another option might be to move. Someone might sell a $6-million mansion, buy a $2-million house, and live without having to work the rest of their lives on $100,000 a year for the next 40 years.

Some people ask: Is creating a Mansion Tax outside the city’s jurisdiction? Yes, it is — for now. But in 2014, COPE, the civic party we’re running for city council with, called for a vacancy tax on empty homes. It’s now 2018 and we have a vacancy tax. It’s not enough to pay for all the housing we need, but it shows that provinces sometimes do what cities ask them to.