Leader of Canada’s New Democrats, Jagmeet Singh, announced today that he intends to raise the taxable amount of capital gains profits made by “big-money” house flippers.
The increase is slated to be at 25 percent.
Singh emphasized that this move is aimed at wealthy wheeler-dealers who purchase inexpensive homes, subject them to quick renovations, and then sell them for huge profits.
Apart from frustrating many residents in and around Metro Vancouver who can’t get access to affordable homes, these house-flipping speculators are also misusing the capital-gains loophole to avoid paying the correct taxes.
While a capital-gains tax does not apply to a primary residence, it can be implemented when selling an investment asset, such as real estate property or shares of stock. However, Singh stressed that “he has no plans of changing this.”
The NDP leader also added that “Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has refused to close the loophole even though it has a billion-dollar price tag” and “eighty-eight percent of it goes to the richest one percent of Canadians.”
Last week, the Trudeau-led Liberals brought forward an anti-flipping tax on residential properties, which required that such homes should not be put up for sale for at least 12 months.
Notably, Metro Vancouver is an area where the NDP hopes to attract more voters.
