My Reply to the Economist

Our cabin at the lake in the Okanagan is still taxed - concern not addressed. We already pay additional property taxes because we are non-residents. We use no where near the level of services for which we are currently taxed. Stop using health care and education costs as an excuse - health care costs are billed back to our home region and we don’t use the education system. We pay all other taxes in the region: PST, gas tax, tobacco taxes. Everything but income tax. And we contribute more to the economy during the times we are there than the average resident. “Local people who rent” will now be out of a job and will leave the region to find work elsewhere. Probably in Vancouver and Victoria or out of province. The people that have signed this petition are not “global elites”. We are Canadians or displaced B.C. residents. Nor are most of us wealthy - hence our argument against the tax. We cannot afford it. Global elites, true speculators should be taxed and can afford it. But there’s a whole group in this tax that are unfairly targeted. Municipalities should be able to opt out as you originally proposed. Nanaimo, Kelownas, Langford, Sidney — these are not urban areas targeted by speculators. You are wrong about where the vast majority of the tax will fall. Satellite families may be hit but most second homes will be decimated by this exorbitant tax. We are not forcing young working British Columbians to subsidize us. As per the mayor of West Kelowna, we are subsidizing them. Building roads and community infrastructure with our unused property tax dollars. 81% of British Columbians may support a speculation tax. That’s not this. Add your own rebuttals below.