A tax meant to ensure non-resident owners of homes in Canada are paying their fair share is causing headaches for home builders.
The Quinte Home Builders Association met with Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams Tuesday about the Underused Housing Tax – an annual 1% tax on the ownership of vacant or underused housing that took effect in 2022 mostly applying to non-resident, non-Canadian owners.
However Quinte Home Builders CEO Ruth Estwick says builders are having to file a return for finished units that hadn’t been sold.
“There’s a whole process associated with that that, that generally has to go through an accountant. To us it just seems like an unneccessary need, like, how is that benefitting housing supply and increasing housing supply? And it adds a whole other process and a layer of red tape that’s unnecessary.”
“They’re exempt from the tax but they’re not excluded from the process. That’s the piece that’s causing the additional layer of unnecessary red tape that we believe and what would also, across the country the Canadian Home Builders Association are, you know, fighting for is to get that, is to get that piece changed.”
Williams tells Quinte News he understands their frustration.
“We need home builders to build homes. We need to make it as easy as possible to ensure we’re building good, quality affordable homes for residents here in the region. And, once again, we’re seeing a cumbersome process added when it’s unneeded and certainly not gonna help home builders build more homes.”
Estwick says home builders associations across the country have been having similar meetings asking for changes to the legislation.
