Dear Editor,

Re: “Council rejects empty home tax,” News, May 23.

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Recently, Richmond city council chose not to levy an empty-homes tax in our city. While several of the council members gave their reasons they did not support it, the reason Alexa Loo gave simply went too far.

In an article in the Richmond News, Loo raises the specter of racism by questioning whether or not an empty-homes tax would be a “new head tax,” no doubt referring to the shameful tax applied to Chinese immigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Brief reflection on this comparison reveals its flaw: the Chinese immigrants of 100 years ago were taxed for living here — the empty-homes tax is levied on people for not living here, regardless of their ethnic origin.

The tax does not target a particular ethnicity, but rather a category of owners that are taking advantage of the community’s scarce housing supply while it is in the grip of a severe affordability crisis. Among the people hit by this crisis are recently arrived Chinese immigrants: hard-working middle-class folks who will never be able to own a home under current conditions, and would be helped by an empty-homes tax rather than hurt by one. Instead, they are seeing an important Canadian value — that of social mobility — evaporate before they even have a chance to get a start here.

This attempt to paint affordability measures as being “racist” is a tired trope, and one I thought we were past. The people in this community deserve more sophisticated discourse to help us navigate the current crisis.

Beau Tanner

RICHMOND