Dear Editor,
A conservative estimate of the number of empty mega-homes in our neighbourhood (The Monds) would be 50-60, with an average market value of between $2.5 million to $3 million each. If Richmond followed Vancouver’s lead in implementing a one per cent tax on unoccupied houses, it would mean an additional $1.5 million to $2 million dollars would flow into our city’s coffers, just from the Monds neighbourhood alone.
If we extend that assessment across all of Richmond, and include the untold number of empty condo and town-house units that exist in this city, what could the total of possible additional revenue be?
Upwards of $50 million? What administration would not welcome such an influx of money into their revenue stream?
This would be a justifiable levy, considering the profits these owners are making on their property investments here. It would be especially appropriate if applied to the super-mega mansions that are being built on agricultural land, allowing those owners to avoid the usual building restrictions and property tax applications and destroy countless acres of some of the best farmland in all of Canada (Globe & Mail - Nov. 19).
With Canadian citizens, and young families in particular, unable to find rental housing (one per cent vacancy rate), while hundreds of houses and condo units sit empty, in many cases for years, this situation is a testament to how our political leaders have failed us. They have let us down both in terms of being unable and/or unwilling to anticipate the onset of these circumstances, and their general lack of concern and initiative in regards to finding ways to ameliorate the plethora of interrelated problems they have fostered, either through their ineptitude or because they have agendas that have less to do with attending to the needs and welfare of Canadian citizens and more to do with pandering to the demands of contractors, developers, and wealthy off-shore speculators.
How about it Mr. Brodie? Follow Vancouver’s lead, or continue to let speculators suck as much money as they can out of our community?
There may not be as many of us long-time Richmond residents around as there used to be, but there stiil may be enough of us to make you accountable at the next election.
Ray Arnold
Richmond
