Chinese tycoon's son complains about B.C. taxes on purchase of $5M supercar

Share this story:

Nick Kirmse, CTVNews.ca Staff with a report from CTV Vancouver’s Allison Hurst

Click to Expand

A Chinese tycoon’s son took to Instagram to complain about British Columbia’s taxes – upset that he was paying more than $900,000 in fees on the purchase of a $5 million supercar.

Ding Chen, the son of China-based multi-millionaire Chen Mailin, posted the invoice for his custom Bugatti supercar to his Instagram on Thursday along with a caption which translates to “This tax… The heart is really tired.”

The bill from Vancouver’s Weissach Performance dealership shows a breakdown of the fees and taxes on the car, but what seemed to upset Chen was the federal and provincial sales taxes, with GST costing him $210,404.25, alongside a whopping $697,939 in PST.

The tax – which equals almost a quarter of the car’s total costs -- is a result of B.C.’s longstanding luxury car tax, which was recently increased by the provincial NDP in February of 2018.

Vehicles costing $125,000 to $149,999 are hit with a 15 per cent rate, while vehicles costing more than $150,000 come with a 20 per cent tax.

"The purpose of a luxury tax is to shift the burden of taxation away from those who can't afford taxes who have to make a choice between taxes and feeding their family, and shifts it to those who can afford to pay taxes so that they make a contribution back to the general welfare of society,” NDP MLA Janet Routledge told CTV News Vancouver.

While the tax seems steep, it’s presumably no issue for Ding Chen, whose father paid for the car according to the bill.

The 49-year-old businessman is a former duck farmer, who now sits as chairman of Nanjing Dingye Investment Group, a property and investment conglomerate which he founded.

He also previously made headlines back in 2015 for making one of the biggest residential transactions in Canada’s history. He purchased a palatial Point Grey mansion for $52.8 million.

The younger Chen is no stranger to showing off his lavish lifestyle either, posting pictures online of other expensive cars, expensive clothing and watches, and a jet with his name painted on the tail in the past.

Chen’s Instagram account went offline on Friday.

RELATED IMAGES Ding Chen's custom Bugatti Chiron is seen in this image from social media.