BURST
A Richmond resident who was hit a few years ago with the speculation and vacancy tax only to have the charges reversed says the province has issued new liens against his property.
It’s a case that has left Tony Chan exasperated, confused and scrambling to figure out what to do.
“It’s insane. Seems vindictive,” said Chan, who has lived in the same Richmond property for 25 years. “Why, I have no idea. Is it just overzealous clerks?”
The B.C. NDP government introduced this speculation and vacancy tax in 2018 as a surcharge on empty or underutilized residential properties in major urban areas.
The government has said in the past that the tax’s “main purpose was not to bring in revenue” but “to help root out speculation and discourage empty homes in an out-of-control housing market.”
Chan bought his Richmond home in 2000. Five years later, he married a woman who lives and works in the U.S.
In 2021, Chan was issued a bill for $14,920. At the time, Chan was mostly retired from a career in the investment sector, but his wife still works and earns more than he does.
The tax legislation was defining him as a member of a satellite family, as more of his household’s reported income was being earned outside of Canada.
But Chan argued he bought the home using money he earned working in B.C., where he had lived for 62 of his then 64 years, working and paying all applicable taxes since he was age 16.
After going public with his case, Chan said he spoke to Joshua McCarthy in the Ministry of Finance in 2022 who agreed he should not be subject to the speculation and vacancy tax and removed three government liens on his property related to not paying the tax.
“I told him my circumstance and he said, ‘Look, Mr. Chan if you are a Canadian citizen, you pay tax in Canada, you live here, you’re not an empty home guy, you’re exempt from the tax.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s been my case all along.”
Land title documents show that it was McCarthy who in August 2022 cancelled the three liens that had been placed against Chan’s property.
Chan thought this was the end of it.
But in August 2024, Chan said “they had again decided to characterize me as a speculator because our ‘global income’ did not originate from B.C. Thus, I was on the merry-go round again.”
In July 2024, the government put a new lien on Chan’s property, this time for almost $100,970. Last month, another active lien was added for just over $24,000.
“Not surprisingly, I don’t happen to have an extra $125,000 to throw around, which means I would have to sell my house and moved out of B.C.,” he said.
Chan said he contacted his MLA, Teresa Wat, for assistance. In a statement, Wat said she has raised the issue in the legislature and tried appealing directly to the finance minister, but has received no response.
“Mr. Chan is not a speculator. He is not leaving homes vacant. He is a long-time resident who has contributed to his community and is now being unfairly penalized due to a rigid and unreasonable application of government policy,” Wat said.
The Ministry of Finance said in a statement it cannot legally comment on tax information relating to specific individuals.
The speculation and vacancy tax is an annual one so a property may have liens on it for each year in which the tax amount is outstanding.
Chan said he and his wife have a blended family and each support children from past relationships. None of her income has gone toward the house he has lived in for 25 years.
His message for Finance Minister Brenda Bailey: “If the speculation tax was introduced to help British Columbians, then the misapplication of it on me is entirely inappropriate. As custodians of all British Columbians, you have the responsibility of preventing such collateral and unintended consequences once you become aware of it.”
He quipped in one email message addressed to Bailey that “if I’m a speculator, I’m a lousy one since I’ve only had one home and I’ve been in it for 25 years. I cannot unwind my marriage.”
A friend suggested to Chan he contact a lawyer, but he hasn’t taken that step.
“I am not able to afford to pay the unknown amount to pursue this, but I am equally not able to afford the fines and taxes levied against me by the government,” he said.