from British Columbia’s Minister of Finance examines the effectiveness of the province’s speculation and vacancy tax .The first tax of its kind implemented in Canada, the Speculation and Vacancy Tax Act was announced as part of the provincial Budget 2018 to encourage property owners to turn empty homes into housing for British Columbians, and ensure foreign owners and those with primarily foreign income contribute fairly to the province’s tax system.
Since 2019, the SVT rate has been 0.5% for Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and 2% for foreign owners and satellite families. Notably, the report found that for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 tax years, the Province collected approximately $230M in SVT revenues. Foreign owners and satellite families paid an average of five times more SVT than B.C. residents. Data from the SVT has shown that the tax has helped to add over 20,000 much-needed units to B.C.’s long-term rental market and encourage owners who were previously keeping their homes empty to either rent them out or to sell.