Stephen Bigsby: The NDP’s ‘speculation tax’ vs. the ‘unfair’ status quo a false choice

In an April 5 opinion piece published in this paper, SFU assistant professor Josh Gordon argued that the NDP government’s revised Speculation Tax was “essential for housing affordability” in B.C.’s main urban centres.

He went on to write: “If critics of the Speculation Tax want to keep up their opposition, they must now defend the status quo. And the status quo is hard to defend.”

According to Gordon, the changes made by the government on March 26 to the original proposal cleared up what critics saw as its only two flaws. Vacation areas such as the Gulf Islands and Parksville were now excluded and B.C. owners of second homes who were undergoing medical care would be exempt from the tax.

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With these changes (plus a $2,000 credit for low-income B.C. owners of second homes), the new improved tax was “fixed”, in Gordon’s expert opinion.

Gordon then went on to proclaim that only this amended version of the NDP government’s Speculation Tax could prevent Vancouver and Victoria from becoming clones of Monte Carlo, resort playgrounds for the “global elites.”