41–50 of 75 posts
"The week that the government announced Vancouver’s foreign tax," Which government? Fed, state, municipal?
It's strange that there is so much push back against foreign investment. Rather than enact a bunch of projectionist policies, wouldn't it be better to just adapt to the investment in a way that benefits natives? After all, when foreign people want to buy something you have, that is called an export, and most people agree those are good for the economy. If foreigners are investing in housing, local governments will re…
It's funny that you think that they pay taxes. >An unusually high number of Vancouver homeowners living in multi-million dollar neighbourhoods but reporting poverty-level incomes is a red flag that needs immediate government action, says NDP MLA David Eby. >“The focus should be quite straightforward: are you paying your worldwide taxes inside British Columbia, or not?” Eby, who represents Vancouver-Point Grey, told r…
There should be similar laws all over. In a global economy, if "regular people" have to compete with multi-millionaires and billionaires who can move capital wherever, whenever they want, housing where any decent paying jobs are located will continue to become more and more unaffordable. Please note: I'm fully aware this isn't the ONLY reason for ridiculous housing prices.
So you should have the ability to force other people how to use the house they paid for? Should I be able to tell you how to use your computer, phone, or car?
Pedantic examples:
- You cannot imprison another adult human within your house.
- You cannot access a secured computer system with your computer.
- You cannot (could not?) use your phone during certain parts of airplane takeoff and landing, and they may not be allowed in certain buildings.
- You cannot park your car wherever you want; only on the side of the street and not in the middle of the street.
It's strange that there is so much push back against foreign investment. Rather than enact a bunch of projectionist policies, wouldn't it be better to just adapt to the investment in a way that benefits natives? After all, when foreign people want to buy something you have, that is called an export, and most people agree those are good for the economy. If foreigners are investing in housing, local governments will re…
This statement assumes that cities aren't already increasing supply. The fact is that Vancouver is building more supply than at any other time in recent memory.
There are real physical limits to creating supply. There are limits in tradespersons available. There are limits in being able to review and approve buildings and it all takes time. The city of Vancouver has already increased development fees in order to be able to hire more people to review development applications faster and build faster.
In contrast to the real and known limits of supply creation, the scope of foreign speculative demand is unknown.
What happens when you increase supply and you don't meet demand? What happens if foreign demand increases to meet the new supply?
There should be similar laws all over. In a global economy, if "regular people" have to compete with multi-millionaires and billionaires who can move capital wherever, whenever they want, housing where any decent paying jobs are located will continue to become more and more unaffordable. Please note: I'm fully aware this isn't the ONLY reason for ridiculous housing prices.
So you should have the ability to force other people how to use the house they paid for? Should I be able to tell you how to use your computer, phone, or car?
I should and do have the ability to force you to drive on the street and not the sidewalk and obey traffic signals.
I should and do have the ability to take some of your money to put toward the general welfare (road maintenance, public libraries, a police force) in the community we share.
I should and do have the ability to force you not to burn garbage in your back yard, blast music at all hours out of your garage, and so on.
That's kinda society in a nutshell, and it's a little surprising you're asking the question. It's rules that we generally mostly agree on--not all of us will agree on every rule, of course--that govern how we live our lives and do things with our stuff.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
On top of Seattle's already high property taxes? Should owners of vacant properties get a rebate because they aren't using the infrastructure they are paying for? Should I be able to tax you for not using your car at least 16 hours a day?
Seattle is a city built by it's people, they have created ideal conditions for home ownership by participating in building a peaceful, prosperous economy which respects individual rights. By having foreigners coming in and buying this 'society' up - beyond the first generation of land owners - they are penalised for having built their own country up, as they end up unable to afford to live in it, burning up valuable…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Should I be able to tell you how to use your computer, phone, or car? No. Land is different from all of those other things. We can always make millions more cars, phones, and computers. We can't make millions of additional housing units in economically important cities like San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, etc. So it behooves us to make sure that housing in those places is being used efficiently instead o…
We can stack houses though. That does work pretty well.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you should have the ability to force other people how to use the house they paid for? Should I be able to tell you how to use your computer, phone, or car?
I should and do have the ability to force how you use your radio transmission equipment, such that you don't broadcast noise on all channels. I should and do have the ability to force you to drive on the street and not the sidewalk and obey traffic signals. I should and do have the ability to take some of your money to put toward the general welfare (road maintenance, public libraries, a police force) in the communit…
Well done, Vancouver city council! The housing market in Vancouver is totally bananas
I saw a stat that said 40% of condos purchased in Toronto (another crazy market) were bought by speculators. Foriegn sales are even lower (sub 10%) than in Vancouver.
These laws focused on foriegners are good for scoring political points, but they don't really address the issue.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you should have the ability to force other people how to use the house they paid for? Should I be able to tell you how to use your computer, phone, or car?
We do have laws that do tell you how you can and cannot use your house, computer, phone, and car. Pedantic examples: - You cannot imprison another adult human within your house. - You cannot access a secured computer system with your computer. - You cannot (could not?) use your phone during certain parts of airplane takeoff and landing, and they may not be allowed in certain buildings. - You cannot park your car wher…