The B.C. government will give the City of Vancouver the powers it needs to implement an empty home tax, provincial Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced this morning.
“It strikes us that if the city wants to do this, it is a reasonable request on their part,” said de Jong, who has requested the Speaker’s office reconvene the legislature on July 25 to implement the legislative changes necessary.
The provincial government is solely responsible for providing the “statutory powers” necessary within the Vancouver Charter to allow for the tax, he said.
It will then be up to the City of Vancouver to determine the tax rate and how to measure whether a home is empty or not.
