Quote:
Originally Posted by whatnext
It is not a win because of the harm done in other areas, particularly housing costs. A jurisdiction in which local wage earners cannot afford to live is doomed to eventual failure.
The example given in the CBC/RadioCanada story was the woman from China who declared something like $70 income on her tax return and yet owned a multimillion dollar house in West Vancouver!
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Housing is a good like food or water. It doesn't cost the government anything. But in return they get taxes, fees, and our economy benefits.
It may make it harder for people to buy a house. But it does serve to fund social programs that help the poor and renters.
Plus the multimillions she paid for the house likely went to a Canadian, yipee! Increased rents likely go to Canadians, yipee! So all the foreign money is generally going to us! Yipee!
If you look at Seattle, San Francisco, Toronto, etc. our housing prices are similar. Maybe 10-20% of our housing prices can be blamed on foreign buyers. So its not like it makes a big difference to ban them. Prices haven't exactly gone way down after the foreign buyer tax (though they arguably went down/stopped rising due to the mortgage rules and other taxes).
Bringing in big tech companies also raises housing prices by increasing demand, yet were not blocking them because they do the same as what foreign investors do, benefit our economy.
I would say everyone can afford to live in Vancouver if they have a decent job. You can still rent condos for less than $1000/month. Maybe the building is a bit run down and its not new. Maybe it took some time to find. But its available for those who look.
The minimum wage has gone up faster than inflation and average wages have gone up faster than inflation. Funding for social programs has increased greatly than before. So we have benefited a lot from the economic boost our real estate industry has given us. Many of us have friends or family employed by the real estate industry.
Just because someone buys an expensive house but pays no income tax does not mean they are a burden on our country. They still have to buy goods that boost our economy, pay other taxes, and injected a ton of money with their housing purchase. We had a program allowing for immigration in return for investment that most nations have because investment is a good thing.
And its a big country. Worst case you rent, save up money, and buy a place in a suburb or move to a different city. Many people have done this.
I don't see guilty looks on anyone's faces when we they discuss buying a vacation home in Mexico. Or go eat a foreign country's food and make food prices go up.
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