Vacant Unit Tax & Underused Housing Tax

[exPS]

The Chow Chow Tax Time thread brought brought up the Vacant Unit Tax (City/Municipal) and Underused Housing Tax (Federal).

As I mentioned before, governments love to dream up new ways to tax you, but without asking its citizens aka those that pay their salaries.

Of what business is it of theirs? None! Their job is to look after our roads, garbage, police and fire departments, recreational centres and public libraries. Not to look after housing for dead beats and refugees because housing never crossed the mind of our highly intelligent leader. 🙄

And there is a fine if you do not complete the annual VUT questionaire by a due date. Well what if you are a snowbird and not around when that notice arrives but you've paid all bills in advance? And here is another good one, how do they know if someone that is renting, paying their rent and not living in the apartment because they are on a job or vacation elsewhere.

Leave it to the government as they usually do not put much thought into anything...why they work there, I guess.

 

[CdnFox]

50 minutes ago, exPS said:

The Chow Chow Tax Time thread brought brought up the Vacant Unit Tax (City/Municipal) and Underused Housing Tax (Federal).

As I mentioned before, governments love to dream up new ways to tax you, but without asking its citizens aka those that pay their salaries.

Of what business is it of theirs? None! Their job is to look after our roads, garbage, police and fire departments, recreational centres and public libraries. Not to look after housing for dead beats and refugees because housing never crossed the mind of our highly intelligent leader. 🙄

And there is a fine if you do not complete the annual VUT questionaire by a due date. Well what if you are a snowbird and not around when that notice arrives but you've paid all bills in advance? And here is another good one, how do they know if someone that is renting, paying their rent and not living in the apartment because they are on a job or vacation elsewhere.

Leave it to the government as they usually do not put much thought into anything...why they work there, I guess.

 

The zoning and use of land is in fact the gov'ts business, so they do get a say.  They have to provide sewer, electrical infrastructure and other services to that area and do so because it will mean that people will have homes and so on and so forth.  They can't afford in such cases for the land to go unused. 

And while i despise Governments overreach and interference in people's personal property, there is a case to be made that if they zone a land for residential use, issue a building permit for residential use, and do their job by providing the infrastructure and services to that building for residential use, that it should be used residentially.

However, they're not really doing it for tax purposes. They are doing it so that they look like they are somehow taking action to resolve the housing crisis. They are not, this does very little if anything at all to affect to the housing crisis. It's not a solution in the slightest. But it looks like it might be to the uneducated so the voters say "oh look the government is doing something Yay."

[herbie]

5 hours ago, exPS said:

As I mentioned before, governments love to dream up new ways to tax you, but without asking its citizens aka those that pay their salaries.

And you. being so wealthy you own a second house and leave it empty are being oppressed?
Or is this another American Dream of I will die to defend someone elses right to become that wealthy ?
Or perhaps, just another I will stretch an analogy completely out of reality during a housing crisis just to make an anti-government statement?

[CdnFox]

3 hours ago, herbie said:

And you. being so wealthy you own a second house and leave it empty are being oppressed?
Or is this another American Dream of I will die to defend someone elses right to become that wealthy ?
Or perhaps, just another I will stretch an analogy completely out of reality during a housing crisis just to make an anti-government statement?

You literally have bragged about owning multiple places and fixing them up and selling them off for profit  

And of course the one where you tripled it's value overnight with your credit card    LOLOLOL

What a hypocrite! 

[herbie]

I sold them to others who live in them, not stand vacant. And you still can't figure out how to make a profit on things can you? So much for the credibility of The Great Defender of Free Enterprise that can't fathom how it works....

[CdnFox]

2 hours ago, herbie said:

I sold them to others who live in them,

Ahhh so you made a profit exploiting their need for housing!!!!  What a terrible person  

And did the offer of purchase and sale require that as a stimpulation? no?  So you sold it without knowing if it would be empty or not! You didn't care as long as you made your money! Pffft - ok slumlord. 

[exPS]

On 5/10/2024 at 6:21 PM, CdnFox said:

The zoning and use of land is in fact the gov'ts business, so they do get a say.  They can't afford in such cases for the land to go unused.

Actually the tax payer is the employer.

And it is not sitting unused as long as I pay my property tax and all other utilities.

[exPS]

On 5/10/2024 at 6:21 PM, CdnFox said:

However, they're not really doing it for tax purposes. They are doing it so that they look like they are somehow taking action to resolve the housing crisis.

And this is my problem how exactly.

This is DH Justin Trudeau's problem. But him being brain dead I can understand why he has a housing crisis.

[CdnFox]

5 hours ago, exPS said:

Actually the tax payer is the employer.

 

Not in this country.  It's  "CROWN" land not taxpayer land.  

And in any case the province or municipality or whatever holds the rights to administer that land for people past present and  future. 

So no, the taxpayer isn't the employer at all.  Just as a private citizen is not the 'employer' of a police officer despite the fact that taxes pay for the officer's wages. 

The local authority (municipality, regional district, province, what have you) indeed has an interest in the land and a duty of care over it's use, and therefore does have a say in how it's used. 

[CdnFox]

5 hours ago, exPS said:

And this is my problem how exactly.

Who said it was your problem? If you have vacant homes i guess it is but that would be because you're using the land controlled by the gov't in a way they haven't allowed for. 

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This is DH Justin Trudeau's problem. But him being brain dead I can understand why he has a housing crisis.

There's no doubt that Justin Trudeau plays a role in all of this. But it is an issue that needs to be addressed by all levels of government. I just don't think this is a very good way to address it at all.

[exPS]

On 5/26/2024 at 5:55 PM, CdnFox said:

Who said it was your problem? If you have vacant homes i guess it is but that would be because you're using the land controlled by the gov't in a way they haven't allowed for. 

There's no doubt that Justin Trudeau plays a role in all of this. But it is an issue that needs to be addressed by all levels of government. I just don't think this is a very good way to address it at all.

It is because I have to waste my time filling in a VUT declaration and if I am late by a day, I get fined.

I never voted the VUT in and no home owner ever did. So much for living in a democracy. LOL

As for the CROWN, eff them.

[CdnFox]

7 hours ago, exPS said:

It is because I have to waste my time filling in a VUT declaration and if I am late by a day, I get fined.

Aaaah - you're in ottawa. Well fair point. 

Sure - gov't paperwork is a pain in the ass and filing for tax purposes in general is a pain in the ass but thta's gov'ts for you. 

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I never voted the VUT in and no home owner ever did. So much for living in a democracy. LOL

If you voted for city council then you did vote for it . If you didn't vote at all (which seems most likely to me) then you REALLY voted for it.  Abstention is you voting for whatever the people who vote voted for.

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As for the CROWN, eff them.

Well they own your land so it would seem they're saying 'eff you' back and there's not much you can do about it    Except look at getting involved in politics a bit more.