Quote:
Originally Posted by Dagger
I think this is a case of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. Immigrants have the same right as you or I to come to this country and buy a property. Turning around and levying a tax against them for doing so, because it drives up property prices is tremendously unfair, and additionally inefficient with respect to how the market for property should work.
|
It's not immigrants though. It's non-residents storing money here. It's money they are taking illegally out of their countries of origin and laundering via Canada, because Canada has become an easy target. Canada is one of the few targets left in the world that has not put some kind of regulations into place.
To illustrate the difference, Immigrants are people who move to Canada and, generally, contribute to the economy. Non-resident investors just park the money here. Meanwhile the residents' taxes go towards providing the infrastructure necessary for their real estate (roads, electricity, plumbing, sanitation, etc...). Investing in real estate, unlike other forms of foreign investment, is passive and does nothing to stimulate the local economy.