BIG TAX ON VACANT PROPERTIES IN VAN

Vancouver slaps $10,000 a year tax on empty homes. Lie about it and it’s $10,000 a day

Want to keep your million-dollar luxury pad in Vancouver empty? Get ready to pay $10,000 (US$7,450) annually in extra taxes. Lie about it? That’ll be $10,000 a day in fines.

Canada’s most-expensive property market, suffering from a near-zero supply of rental homes, announced the details of a new tax aimed at prodding absentee landlords into making their properties available for lease. The empty-home tax will take effect by Jan. 1 and will be calculated at one per cent of the property’s assessed value, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told reporters at City Hall.