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Eby is fully up to speed on the government’s 20 per cent “foreign buyers” tax, its proposed “speculation tax” on vacant dwellings, its expanded “school tax” on high-end properties and its efforts to close loopholes that allow the rich to buy mansions while obscuring their real identities, often to avoid paying property-related taxes.

There has been pushback. Liberal MLAs, the house-rich, some pundits and even the B.C. Greens are either fulminating against the policies — claiming they’re acts of class warfare and even xenophobia — or just trying to pick holes in them. Fair enough.

But the B.C. public is applauding. Two of three Metro residents told Angus Reid pollsters last week that housing is the region’s most important issue and they want government action on it.

More than four in five British Columbians support the foreign-buyers tax, the intention to collect information on where buyers come from and the “speculation” tax on unoccupied dwellings, says Angus Reid. Two of three also back the “school tax” surcharge on houses worth over $3 million.

The devil in combating unaffordability is in the details of tax policy. And Eby said the challenge is not unique to B.C., mentioning how Hawaii levies higher taxes on non-resident buyers. He could have cited similar tax measures in New Zealand, Singapore and London, which are also desirable locations for high-net-worth individuals.

The aim running through many of the new housing measures, Eby made clear, is requiring house owners who pay little or no income taxes in B.C., while enjoying government services, to cough up more in property-related taxes.