Could a vacancy tax solve Australia's housing crisis? Canada might have the answer
www.abc.net.au
In 2018, Canada's British Columbia introduced a tax against vacant homes. Three years later, more than 20,000 rentals were back on the market.

My first instinct is “yes” but then I thought about it and I think it’s just going to exacerbate the short-stay problem unless combined with other measures.

  • abhibeckert@lemmy.world
    1·
    1 year ago

    … so now instead of paying $10k per year, my kids will need to pay $500k when I die? And their only way to avoid it is to move into my place and sell whatever home they currently live in? That sounds pretty crap to me.

    Instead of an asset, the family home has become a liability.

    • Rusty Raven @aussie.zone
      1·
      1 year ago

      Didn’t the whole proposal start with a hypothetical 80 year old pensioner? You think she’s going to live to 130, and her million dollar house is going to suddenly stop appreciating in value, so her poor put upon 100 year old kids will only inherit $500k?

      Obviously it is far better to scrap any sort of tax on property than burden the poor kids with a reduced inheritance. Far better to make the poor kids (and grandkids, and everyone else’s kids, including those who won’t get an inheritance at all) cough up now with something like the income tax levy that has been proposed.