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The fact that the four comments already posted so far when I got to this thread were all in abject denial is not encouraging. People who own detached single-fam

The fact that the four comments already posted so far when I got to this thread were all in abject denial is not encouraging. People who own detached single-family houses in high-demand metropolitan areas are in fact fantastically rich-- they're basically sitting on a dragon hoard of wealth-- and in doing so they're fucking everybody else over. LVT would fix this in a heartbeat but of course the political opposition would be fierce.

adriand 3y ago
Canada should get rid of the capital gains tax exemption on the sale of primary residences and use the money raised in that manner to build more housing and to help renters and the homeless. Even if they just levied a modest percentage tax, like 5% or 10%, it would raise enormous sums of capital. And homeowners would still be making windfall profits.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  Or just make capital gains apply on any earnings over $1M or so. Suddenly it would not be such an exciting amazing thing to have your home double in value, would it? The raised taxes could be earmarked for building (gasp!) public housing. The stuff we used to build until the 90s, when it suddenly became absolutely unpopular and politically toxic for governments to encourage affordable housing stock. That these kinds of policies can't/won't happen tells you that the foxes are running the hen house in this country, at every level of government and business. E.g. the response to affordability crisis is more stimulus and subsidies (new tax free home buyers accounts, etc), rather than getting pricing under control by building homes and regulating real estate law. All very frustrating.
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  I agree with progressive taxation, but a tax on moving is stifling and encouraging people to hold onto their property and become landlords when they need to move. Instead have a property tax to raise the same money. I am also against stamp duty. I suspect it stop’s people where I live moving when it might be a years salary in pure tax. So people less likely to move. Renovating/extending homes for profit (increasing the effective housing supply with infill) happens less.
readthenotes1 3y ago
Are they homeowners or homeowers tho? They're hoard is basically only their equity minus transaction and replacement costs
adamredwoods 3y ago
>> and in doing so they're fucking everybody else over. Exactly, from the article: >> in North Vancouver, one Airbnb host complained to North Shore News that “people don’t want to deal with [long-term] tenants” who are less profitable and harder to evict. But it’s also evident in the way that homeowners frequently oppose new developments that encroach on their neighbourhoods, fighting—often successfully—against change and exacerbating unaffordability and insufficient housing supply in the process.
underlipton 3y ago
It's been said over and over that these people compare themselves to the people on the next rung up and conclude that they're not wealthy. I think it says something about nature of the bubbles we live in that this delusion isn't dashed organically. Gig delivery takes me down a lot of roads I wouldn't normally go down, dropping off Taco Bell and Outback and ColdStone to apartments and townhouses and tract homes and McMansions. In a previous life, I likely welcomed some of their owners and renters to [big box retailer]. It's difficult (and bad for sales numbers) to try to determine who is who; they're all shopping at the same places, ordering many of the same products. The differences in circumstances and means show themselves in private arenas where wealthy people aren't likely to encounter how the other half lives. So, when the McMansion-dwellers see the townhome- and apartment-dwellers, it's on "equal" ground. But it's important to remember that this is by design - partly their design. All of this to say, wealthy people are unreliable arbiters of their standing. Either they're blissfully unaware, or purposely crafted their situation (and implicitly must benefit from the surface-level seeming lack of awareness).
- seec 3y ago
  I see what you mean. And I believe that to actually become wealthy enough to be considered wealthy you sort of need to lack self-awareness and be willing to roll on others regardless of how much pain you are going to inflict. I think a large ego and accompanying egoistic behavior is almost a requirement. Otherwise, you don't get rich because at many crossroads you find yourself in situations where you understand how unfair some things are and your awareness prevents you from taking part in this mess. My experience is that they generally are low quality humans considering many variables. Yet they successfully secured a large amount of ressource. Our system is completely broken in that it rewards the worst behavior at almost all stages of the game. I am a bit disillusioned, but I doubt it is possible to have material success without cheating/lying and the like in our current society. But that is probably true for a while now...

adriand 3y ago

Canada should get rid of the capital gains tax exemption on the sale of primary residences and use the money raised in that manner to build more housing and to help renters and the homeless. Even if they just levied a modest percentage tax, like 5% or 10%, it would raise enormous sums of capital. And homeowners would still be making windfall profits.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
Or just make capital gains apply on any earnings over $1M or so. Suddenly it would not be such an exciting amazing thing to have your home double in value, would it? The raised taxes could be earmarked for building (gasp!) public housing. The stuff we used to build until the 90s, when it suddenly became absolutely unpopular and politically toxic for governments to encourage affordable housing stock. That these kinds of policies can't/won't happen tells you that the foxes are running the hen house in this country, at every level of government and business. E.g. the response to affordability crisis is more stimulus and subsidies (new tax free home buyers accounts, etc), rather than getting pricing under control by building homes and regulating real estate law. All very frustrating.
quickthrower2 3y ago
I agree with progressive taxation, but a tax on moving is stifling and encouraging people to hold onto their property and become landlords when they need to move. Instead have a property tax to raise the same money. I am also against stamp duty. I suspect it stop’s people where I live moving when it might be a years salary in pure tax. So people less likely to move. Renovating/extending homes for profit (increasing the effective housing supply with infill) happens less.

readthenotes1 3y ago

Are they homeowners or homeowers tho? They're hoard is basically only their equity minus transaction and replacement costs

adamredwoods 3y ago

>> and in doing so they're fucking everybody else over. Exactly, from the article: >> in North Vancouver, one Airbnb host complained to North Shore News that “people don’t want to deal with [long-term] tenants” who are less profitable and harder to evict. But it’s also evident in the way that homeowners frequently oppose new developments that encroach on their neighbourhoods, fighting—often successfully—against change and exacerbating unaffordability and insufficient housing supply in the process.

underlipton 3y ago

It's been said over and over that these people compare themselves to the people on the next rung up and conclude that they're not wealthy. I think it says something about nature of the bubbles we live in that this delusion isn't dashed organically. Gig delivery takes me down a lot of roads I wouldn't normally go down, dropping off Taco Bell and Outback and ColdStone to apartments and townhouses and tract homes and McMansions. In a previous life, I likely welcomed some of their owners and renters to [big box retailer]. It's difficult (and bad for sales numbers) to try to determine who is who; they're all shopping at the same places, ordering many of the same products. The differences in circumstances and means show themselves in private arenas where wealthy people aren't likely to encounter how the other half lives. So, when the McMansion-dwellers see the townhome- and apartment-dwellers, it's on "equal" ground. But it's important to remember that this is by design - partly their design. All of this to say, wealthy people are unreliable arbiters of their standing. Either they're blissfully unaware, or purposely crafted their situation (and implicitly must benefit from the surface-level seeming lack of awareness).

seec 3y ago
I see what you mean. And I believe that to actually become wealthy enough to be considered wealthy you sort of need to lack self-awareness and be willing to roll on others regardless of how much pain you are going to inflict. I think a large ego and accompanying egoistic behavior is almost a requirement. Otherwise, you don't get rich because at many crossroads you find yourself in situations where you understand how unfair some things are and your awareness prevents you from taking part in this mess. My experience is that they generally are low quality humans considering many variables. Yet they successfully secured a large amount of ressource. Our system is completely broken in that it rewards the worst behavior at almost all stages of the game. I am a bit disillusioned, but I doubt it is possible to have material success without cheating/lying and the like in our current society. But that is probably true for a while now...