New BC real estate tax is not racist

The 15% tax imposed recently by the province of British Columbia on property purchased by foreign nationals is a desperate measure brought on by desperate circumstances in the dangerously overheated BC real estate market. Ontario is considering a similar tax to address Toronto's almost equally overheated housing market. I'm sure they would prefer not to have to resort to such measures, but few other practical options present themselves.

An article by a York University law professor claims that the tax is actually illegal - on the grounds that it taxes people, including residents of British Columbia, differently depending on their citizenship status, and therefore contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - and I imagine that it may well be tested in the courts. There may be mitigating circumstances that the Charter would allow, specifically that there are no other ways to achieve the intended policy objective that would do less to infringe people’s rights.

Could BC's objective have been achieved in some other, less inflammatory manner (perhaps based on residency requirements, or a tax on speculation and flipping)? Maybe, although it seems to me that loopholes would be relatively easy to find in any of these other suggestions.

What is interesting though is the extent to which this new tax is being portrayed, mainly by well-meaning, letter-writing, liberal types - people like me really - as egregiously racist in nature. I don't see it. The law applies equally to foreign nationals from all countries, whether it be Denmark, USA or Singapore, not just to Chinese nationals. Even the estimable York professor claims: "While the new 15-per-cent B.C. levy applies to foreign nationals, we all know the aim of the legislation is narrower: curtailing real estate investment by Chinese foreign investors." I don't think "we all know" anything of the sort, and this seems like sloppy reasoning for a law professor. The fact that the majority of overseas property purchasers in Vancouver are in fact Chinese is an accident of international demographics, but the law is needed to curtail foreign speculative buying of all stripes.

But to call the new law inherently racist is disingenuous to say the least.