Just tax empty places, isn't that what Vancouver does? Leaving a place empty/inhabited should be very expensive.

>> Leaving a place empty/inhabited should be very expensive.

Vancouver is finding that difficult to enforce. How do you tell if a unit is "occupied" or not? At the moment it is largely voluntary. The city cannot tell whether someone is living in a unit or it living overseas ten months out of the year. They aren't going to be sending inspectors to knock on doors.

I'm a good example of the difficulties. I was away on training (military) for six months. My apparment sat empty. Should I have been paying the tax? How would the government detect that I wasn't there?... Short of me or my landlord admitting to it and then paying the tax.

> They aren't going to be sending inspectors to knock on doors.

Well, why not? Arguably they would pay for themselves in a short time if implemented correctly.

Combine that with criminal tax fraud charges for cheats.

Oh, They can't really get hold of Vlad Q Oligarch because he's sailing his 100M yacht somewhere in the carribeans?

Expropriate the property.

Drastic? Maybe. I don't think unreasonable, however, for people gaming the system and cheating on their tax obligations.

Edited to add: Of course there should be exceptions for inhabitants with a good reason not to live in their home for a certain amount of time. I.e military, guest professorships, etc

There would probably be an exception for people in the military or government service. If on the other hand you spent 6 months in the US working for a private business like Google, then it would be fair to tax you.

Setting aside fairness, how would the government work out whether I am gone or not? Lots of people go away for several months. Policing the system becomes impossible, which is why I described vancouver's system as voluntary.

Say you own three properties in Vancouver, best case you can only occupy one at a time since you are not a quantum entity from another dimension. The city could ask for proof of a tenant renting the unit, and if you fail to prove it, you then need to pay empty unit tax on 2/3 of your properties.

Someone being gone for a stint and leaving a single apartment unoccupied for a while might not be a big issue in the grand scheme of things, if most of the problem is from people who can afford several properties. If the city wanted to go after these sort of units, maybe they could pull utility data and see a drop off in use. I'm no plumber, but with Vancouver winters, maybe you do want to have your water service shut off if you will be gone long term? No one likes coming home to a house completely encased in ice inside and out.

Maybe you can have one residence which is excluded, but for people who own dozens of condos, anything past the first one can be checked more thoroughly?

There's already property tax

That's different from the Empty Home Tax: https://vancouver.ca/your-government/vacancy-tax-bylaw.aspx

Right. The point is that empty homes already pay in to the system. Taxing property owners for how they choose to use or not use their property is silly.

If you keep building them, they will become more available. You're increasing supply, without affecting demand (from potential investors or residents).

And increasing supply is a great way to make them bad investment vehicles