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City staff had previously said the annual tax would be set between 0.5 and two per cent of a home’s assessed value.

If councillors OK the tax, it would become the first of it kind in Canada.

The first round of taxes would be due April 15, 2018. At one per cent, the tax on a million-dollar home would be $10,000. That, in addition to property taxes of $3,165, works out to nearly the same tax bill that the owner of a $1-million commercial property would receive each year.

It would take the tax revenues from 470 empty, $1-million homes for the city to recoup its startup costs, and tax on another 150 such homes to cover the annual operating costs.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable for all that housing to be treated as a commodity first — as a business holding — when housing is in such short supply” — Gregor Robertson

The city’s solution to identifying empty homes is fairly simple. Each homeowner would be required to fill out a self-declaration of whether their property is either a principal residence; tenanted for a combined six months a year; eligible for exemption; or vacant.

Only vacant homes would be subject to the tax. That means snowbirds, university professors on sabbatical and anyone else who leaves their homes empty for long stretches would not pay the tax, as long as they can prove their empty homes are their principal residences. Documentary proof would include income tax notices, vehicle registrations and government identification cards. Tenancy would be proven by things like lease agreements or insurance papers.

Any homeowner who failed to make a self-declaration would be assumed to be hiding an empty home. Fines for falsified declarations or other offences against the bylaw would start at $250 and be as high as $10,000, and could be charged each day an offence continues, according to city staff.