LETTER about the BC Speculation Tax – from an Alberta resident who owns a home in Langford, BC [March 3, 2018]
As sent to Langford Mayor Stew Young and BC Premier John Horgan:
Mayor Stewart Young/Premier Horgan,
We are writing you today feeling targeted and angry as we are out-of-province residents, and homeowners of property in Bear Mountain, a part of your municipality in Langford.
When we first decided to contribute to the growth of BC by purchasing property here, we were attracted to your “open for business” attitude in Langford. The sense of community was extremely inviting to us.
It has been very exciting for us to be a part of your community, for more than 10 years, and we have fallen in love with the lifestyle. So much so that we have recently made the big decision to reinvest in Bear Mountain as part of our retirement plan into a home that will be our primary residence in the future.
When we read about the 2018 Budget with an imposed foreign buyers and speculators tax, the message we heard was “Thank you for contributing to BC’s growth and now get out”. We would like to make it very clear to you Mr. Young/Mr. Horgan we are Canadian, not Foreign. This tax is directly targeting us as Canadians, you are taxing our retirement!
We would also like to reference a comment made during the Budget release, that we have never treated our home in BC as the stock market. It has been a lifestyle decision for our family with a benefit to us, our retirement plan and to the local community, that we have contributed to with our everyday spends when we are enjoying time at our BC home. We should also note that we have paid municipal taxes as well as property transfer tax on our homes in your province.
We feel this is a very slippery slope as your neighbouring province, to be segregated this way. Our long term plans may be forced to be short lived, as this tax may force us into a compromising financial situation. Had we anticipated such hostility and haste, we would have never put our future in the hands of uncertainty, the provincial government of BC.
Regards,
Justin and Linda Rumpel
Sherwood Park, AB
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And a comment from Langford Mayor Stew Young: “This is a bad tax as it will hurt Canadians and jobs for Langford and BC . I’m getting lots of complaints, the most ever on any one issue.” (March 2, 2018)
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