VANCOUVER -- A majority of British Columbians support an absentee homeowner tax, though many residents of East Asian descent believe the debate on foreign ownership is racist, according to a new poll.

The Insights West survey shows 73 per cent of those polled believe levying a tax on those who buy homes in B.C. but don’t live in them is a “very good” or “good” idea.

It also suggests this sentiment is strongest among residents of Metro Vancouver (77 per cent), people aged 18 to 34 (76 per cent) and those in the highest annual household income bracket (76 per cent.)

Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs at Insights West, says it shows that even homeowners, who stand to make a lot of money on the resale of their home as foreign ownership drives up prices, are concerned about the negative effect on the community.

For instance, 86 per cent believe that absentee homeowners are speculators and not really part of the community, and that number jumps to 92 per cent for those with higher incomes.

That’s despite a high number of homeowners (76 per cent) saying they believe when foreigners buy homes the value of their properties go up.

“To have (developer) Bob Rennie tell you that a condo is the best thing to do is kind of like having the CEO of McDonalds tell you that their burgers are nutritious and they are the only thing you can afford,” Canseco said in an interview.

“There are other things we can do (to address high home prices). This shows there is high support for a tax ... And there should be a broader discussion on how to build communities. If you live next door to an empty house, this is going to negatively impact your community.”

Broken down by race, the numbers were similar across the board for Caucasian, South Asian and East Asian respondents, with a majority thinking a tax is a “very good” or “good” idea. A higher number of South Asians (58 per cent) think it’s a “very good idea” than Caucasians (43 per cent) and East Asians (39 per cent.)

Yet while most agree with the tax, they are divided when it comes to the question of whether the debate on foreign home ownership is inherently racist, with 35 per cent of East Asian respondents agreeing, compared with 21 per cent of total respondents. The issue of whether the discussion is racist was evenly split among age categories and gender.

“It’s about a social perception that has been building over some time. We can see people using the anonymity of social media to voice their concerns about racism, but there are very few who will talk about it openly,” Canseco said.

“I don’t care where you came from. I don’t care if you’re from Oklahoma or Shanghai this (discussion) is something that has to be done ... we’ve had such a difficulty trying to explain this as something that is trying to help communities.”

The survey of 825 adult British Columbians was conducted from May 17 to May 20. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

ticrawford@vancouversun.com

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