A former longtime mayor of West Kelowna says he’s hoping the speculation tax won’t be applied to his city the next time it is collected.
Doug Findlater, now a city councillor, says foreign home ownership isn’t an issue in West Kelowna, which is what the speculation tax primarily looks to address.
He says the tax has scared off out-of-province investment, most notably a 1,000-home development called Goats Peak where the developer was nearing rezoning approval from city council before backing out.
“I know one fellow who manages a winery but he’s a pilot for Air Canada out of Toronto, and he’s been hit by this. There are Canadians primarily in this area who have been impacted by the spec tax. It is a real concern when Canadians are hit who live here part of the year,” Findlater says, while speaking on the Jason Hewlett show.
“In terms of foreign ownership, satellite families, speculators, we never felt that was a considerable issue here. Most of the people who want to move here are people from Alberta. Some of them own homes here, retirement homes, vacation homes. They may have come from here, the family home, gone to work in Vancouver, or Calgary, or Toronto.”
The spec tax was charged to 12,029 property owners this year in B.C. and brought in $115 million, working out to more than $9,600 per property on average. The Minstry of Finance says that money will be used for affordable housing.
When asked by NL News, the Ministry says it does not yet have data compiled that shows where the properties were that were taxed, saying that would be available later this summer.
Finance Minister Carole James will meet in September with the mayors of communities where the spec tax applies. Findlater says the city’s mayor Gord Milson will be part of that meeting which he hopes will lead to changes.