Real Estate
Vancouver is doubling down on the success of its vacant home tax…well, tripling down, technically. The Vancouver Empty Homes Tax (EHT) will be tripled from its original rate for the 2021 assessment year. The tax, which places a penalty on underused homes, was put in place to help encourage more efficient use.
Vancouver Empty Homes Tax (EHT)
Vancouver real estate’s notoriously low property tax rate made it ideal for carrying vacant property for a long period of time. In order to discourage this kind of behaviour, the City joined other places like Paris, in taxing vacant homes. The tax reduces the cost effectiveness of vacant speculation, forcing owners to decide if they really want to carry the empty home. There’s some notable exceptions, like if the home is a principal residence or rented for 6 months. However, generally it helps to close the inefficiency created by the low rates that attract yield chasing…CLICK for complete article
The United Kingdom has had troops deployed in Saudi Arabia to protect its oilfields from attacks since February this year, The News reported this week, a local newspaper in Portsmouth in the UK. A small team from the 16th Regiment Royal Artillery, which is based near Portsmouth, were sent to Saudi Arabia to man Giraffe radars, which can track aircraft and missiles up to 75 miles away.
After the report, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that the mission was to protect oilfields in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, from attacks, in the wake of the September 2019 attacks on critical Saudi oil infrastructure that affected half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production, or around 5 percent of global oil supply, for weeks.
The Saudi oilfields that UK troops help to protect are “critical economic infrastructure,” the UK Ministry of Defence told The Independent. CLICK for complete article
“The current rules close small bookstores, florists and lighting stores to in-store business but allow customers to line up at Costco and Walmart to buy these same items. If it is dangerous to buy a book at an independent bookseller, why isn’t it dangerous at Costco?”
~Dan Kelly, president, Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses
As Prime Minister Trudeau reveals his ‘net-zero’ plan for 2050, it is clear that Canada is still very much reliant on its oil industry. The new bill requires Canada to meet multiple targets to reach its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, one of the aims of the internationally-signed Paris climate agreement. However, critics say the country has already failed to meet its targets over the last decade, making this plan overly ambitious.
In addition, Trudeau has failed to provide the required five-year targets or to clarify how Canada will meet the goal outlined in the bill. This calls into question its validity as previous Prime Minister Stephen Harper was forced to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol for falling behind on climate change targets, implying a potential penalty of billions.
While there has been significant pressure from international institutions and activists to go green, Canada depends heavily on its oil and gas industries to support its economy and provide hundreds of thousands of jobs. Canada’s oil-producing regions, therefore, see going green as a threat to the economy. CLICK for complete article
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