Foreign buyers study a waste of money according to expert

Aug 5 2016, 4:57 am

The BC NDP’s housing critic says taxpayer dollars are being wasted on a promised study by the province to investigate the role of foreign buyers, now that the foreign buyer tax is in effect.

Eby suggests the province was flying by the seat of its pants when it commissioned the report, and then ushered in the tax within a matter of months.

“A significant amount of money was paid for this study that was quickly ignored when the government quickly realized how out of touch they were on affordable housing, and had to rush to get something into place.”

The study was supposed to take six months to complete, but with the foreign buyer tax already in effect, Eby is suspicious about just how much time was invested in implementing the tax as a letter by Premier Christy Clark to him suggests.

“She says they were working on this tax for months, and it was carefully planned.”

For its part, the BC Government says it still intends to follow through on the study, despite the foreign buyer tax already in effect, and the report will cost up to $68,000.

The Ministry Responsible for Housing says the study is intended to go beyond just the scope of just foreign ownership.

It adds the province commissioned the Conference Board of Canada to conduct that study, and the results should be released by the end of the year.

Originally posted on CKNW.com

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