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There’s something almost pathetically naive about the City of Vancouver’s plan to tax owners of vacant homes.

Forget its most obvious flaws. It would be hideously expensive to administer and police. It would be largely dependent on self-reporting, and despite Canadians’ Dudley Do-Right reputation, I expect few are all that willing to out themselves as empty home owners (and, if not self-reporting, the city hopes neighbours will snitch on neighbours — something normally relied on by only the most oppressive regimes).

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The crucial problem? It won’t end speculation, which is something that municipalities along with the development industry and the provincial government were complicit in helping to create.

Less than a decade ago, municipalities lobbied hard to get the B.C. government to change the Strata Property Act so that all newly constructed strata-titled homes would be available for rentals. The 2010 amendment prevented newly formed strata corporations from passing bylaws that would either restrict the number of rental units or ban them entirely.