Council candidate pitches ‘mansion tax’ in Vancouver 

Because it’s time!

Yes, this by-Election *should* become a referendum on the “mansion tax” idea and everyone should support it by voting for Jean Swanson on Oct 14 (or before). There is no downside! or as UBC economist Thomas Davidoff said on Saturday “Politicians don’t like to irritate the kind of people who live in $5 million to $10 million homes. But there’s no good reason not to do it.”

I remember being frustrated back in 1996 when the NDP government backed down from property tax increases after a protest in Kerrisdale where some guy whined about an old lady he knew (perhaps his mum?) who would be forced out of her home by the proposed increase. BULLSHIT!!!  Anyone over 70 sitting on three million dollars worth of real estate can easily extract enough by way of reverse mortgages to provide a grand style of living to the end of her days – not to mention that property taxes can be deferred until sale or death at almost no interest by anyone over 55 in BC. So the only person who had anything to lose was the poor old lady’s greedy entitled yuppie kids (who were probably the ones shedding crocodile tears on her behalf!).

And just the other day I heard a couple of disgustingly snide interviewers on CKNW bleating about how poor Chip Wilson had worked so hard to “earn” his $75 million house on Point Grey Road.

Again, BULLSHIT!!! He worked no harder for the twelve million that his property value increased last year than I did for the half million that my own house earned. In a crowded dangerous world anyone lucky enough to “own” property in Vancouver is making a huge unearned gain every year – and that will continue until we achieve global peace and population control. The proposed extra tax on Chip’s property will be less than one tenth of the amount by which its book value grows each year, so give me a break and drop that line of objection also.

Clearly there is no reason not to support the mansion tax, so get out and vote for Jean Swanson on Oct 14 (or better, in one of the advance polls on Oct 4 and 10).

 

Source: Vancouver byelection: Council candidate pitches ‘mansion tax’ | Vancouver Sun

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