Real Estate Talks

....really? any rich guys who can afford to buy a shit hole with millions dollars cares to scam your welfare, gst check, and medical systems? Right, what kind of culture of that is?

You guys are so funny.

our generous social programs

What are those generous programs? I can not recall any one of them. A new comer once asked me the same question, I tried very hard but failed to answer it. Can't blame me, What I know is that rental allowance of $375 in welfare hasn't been changed for years, probably for past 20 years, that can be called generous. Guys, we are piss poor, admitted. Do not live in your own small world any more.

Thompson you are clueless. If someone (husband's) family (wife & kids) live in Canada the husband is deemed to be Canadian resident for tax purposes. This means they must file a Canadian tax return and pay tax on their worldwide income. How many foreigners are paying Canadian income tax on their foreign income?
Here's the answer. Not many. http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2015/09/2 ... ing-taxes/
This is why Richmond & West Van have the lowest incomes in Canada & somehow the highest home prices! This is how foreigners are scamming Canada. Wake up people! Again ... all you home owners don't care as long as their homes are going up in value.



As per CRA's website

Under Canada's tax system, your income tax obligations to Canada are based on your residency status.

The most important thing to consider when determining your residency status in Canada for income tax purposes is whether or not you maintain, or you establish, residential ties with Canada.

Significant residential ties to Canada include:

a home in Canada;
a spouse or common-law partner in Canada; and
dependants in Canada;

Now do you think these foreigners are scamming the Canadian system???????? We are losing hundreds of thousands of tax dollars PER YEAR for each foreign home owner. This could be billions of dollars per year in total. A lot more than the $375 monthly welfare cheque you are talking about.

Whattodo, you are one way thinking, those are "other people's money", have nothing to do with you or Canada.

We all know money can buy freedom. Rich foreigners may have one house in Canada, one house in London, one in Paris, and three in China, so, they may or may not have to be Canadian residences, and thus they don't have to claim any income tax in Canada even their kids or wife spend some time in Canada. Second, if they claim to be Canadian residents, you may still have empty hands on their income, because they have to be taxed first in their country, which means ROC may or may not get any of them, ...it has to be calculated based on tax treaty between countries. Then it comes to the third part that I want to point out: our very complicated tax system created a lot of good pay jobs for Canadians. Actually we successfully created a huge "industry" that attracted so many smart people who call themselves "tax experts". So there are many wonderful methods, or loops, available for the rich foreigners to chose for minimizing their taxes,... Well, you may call it "scamming", but tax professionals disagree with you , they all think them as "options" or "rights" , and suggest everyone who has a right mind should take one and use it. So, tell me please who should be blamed?

Anyway, governments are actually smarter than what we want to believe. Those rich foreigners are, or will be taxed to death here in Canada, one way or another....maybe not through the income tax, but we have all kind of taxes available for them, as long as they, wife or kids, spend their money to buy something. In Canada, only water and air are tax-free.

Governments offer all sorts of tax breaks and loan guarantees for FDI, perhaps Thompson is right, if we get the cash, the government will get its money eventually through eventual disbursements. Look at the sweet LNG deals being offered, why can't the same happen for property?

So, tell me please who should be blamed?

I'm a big proponent of blaming a system so obviously geared towards turning a blind eye to tax avoidance for higher income residents. More recently immigration has been of the well-heeled variety so it shouldn't be a surprise immigrants are using the system to their advantage for once. Perhaps this in part makes up for generations of disadvantage, like foreign doctors with unrecognized credentials working as orderlies and such.

Thompson,

Vacation properties are allowed here but the property tax rate should be much higher than for Canadian citizens. As for the astronaut families well their wife & kids live here so the entire family is deemed to be Canadian residents for tax purposes. Just so you know I am one of those people you call a tax expert so I know what I am talking about. If Chinese are declaring their income in China then because of the foreign tax credit they wouldn't pay much more additional income tax in Canada. However, considering China is one of the most corrupt countries in the world this is not happening. They want to get their money out of China. Do you think they report the income on their Chinese tax return & then transfer it out of the country? Come on now. You tell me how Chinese government officials are multi millionaires when their salary is probably around $40,000 a year. I 'll tell you ... bribes, kickbacks, blackmail. I have friends who do business in China & these things are considered normal business practices. They can use this money to buy Canadian houses. If I practiced business like this in Canada I would be in jail.

Anyway, CRA is to blame here. I remember about 15 years ago when they used to do net worth tests on people. Canadians living in West Van (in back them 2 million dollar homes) were getting caught. It was easy for CRA. People declared $30,000 in income but CRA said your mortgage + 2 kids in private schools & car payments + living expenses = $150,000 per year well then your income must be at least $200,000 per year. A foreigner buys a house for 10 million in cash & no questions are asked. If CRA was stricter like the IRS is in the USA we wouldn't have a money laundering problem here in Canada.

Our government still denies that there are alot of foreign buyers in Vancouver. House prices up 25% last year. GDP & wages up 2% last year. You don't need a PHD in economics to figure out that foreign money caused the huge prices increases

Just because someone is the biological father of a child doesn't mean that father's name is legally required to be on the birth certificate

Whattodo,
I think a number of things caused the huge price increases to real estate such as record low interest rate, record high borrowings by Canadians, easy access to mortgages, and foreign money. Every evening when i watch the news hour, banks and credit unions run ads asking viewers how much money they need? $100K, $600k. It's that easy, just come on in. You're richer than you think. So to say it is all due to foreign money is a bit of a stretch.

Also, according to Transparency International, China ranks 83 out of 168 countries in the world in terms of corruption so they are in the middle of the pact. Nothing to be proud of, but does not align with your statement that "China is one of the most corrupt countries in the world". Canada ranks 9th (which is good). But we are not totally clean either. Remember our former Prime Minister who took $300k in cash stuffed in an envelope and didn't report it as income in the year received? Just bringing a more global perspective to this discussion.

http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015

CPA,

Everyone in Canada has access to low interest rates so why are prices not skyrocketing everywhere? Why are prices not up in Saskatchewan or Quebec? I know you will say we have a supply shortage & a land shortage in Vancouver. I agree. However, if only locals could buy homes here then prices increases will be limited to what locals can afford based on their incomes.

Home prices went up 20 -30% in 2015 in the lower mainland last year. Did wages go up 20 - 30? NO! Wages are up about 2%. Did locals increase their debts levels by 20 - 30%. NO! Debt levels have increased by about 4% last year. So, how could prices go up by this much then? To me it must be foreign money.

China may not be the most corrupt in the world but if 2 or 3% of the millionaires from there buy houses here you can see what it does to home prices. According to my realtor friends very few locals are buying anything over 2.5 million. Anything over this price point is all being bought by Chinese.

Whattodo,
I think a number of things caused the huge price increases to real estate such as record low interest rate, record high borrowings by Canadians, easy access to mortgages, and foreign money. Every evening when i watch the news hour, banks and credit unions run ads asking viewers how much money they need? $100K, $600k. It's that easy, just come on in. You're richer than you think. So to say it is all due to foreign money is a bit of a stretch.

Also, according to Transparency International, China ranks 83 out of 168 countries in the world in terms of corruption so they are in the middle of the pact. Nothing to be proud of, but does not align with your statement that "China is one of the most corrupt countries in the world". Canada ranks 9th (which is good). But we are not totally clean either. Remember our former Prime Minister who took $300k in cash stuffed in an envelope and didn't report it as income in the year received? Just bringing a more global perspective to this discussion.

http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015

Its not well known that things are different in Vancouver and in particular many people oppose development making supply even tighter. A salary isnt everything.

Whattodo,
I think a number of things caused the huge price increases to real estate such as record low interest rate, record high borrowings by Canadians, easy access to mortgages, and foreign money. Every evening when i watch the news hour, banks and credit unions run ads asking viewers how much money they need? $100K, $600k. It's that easy, just come on in. You're richer than you think. So to say it is all due to foreign money is a bit of a stretch.

Also, according to Transparency International, China ranks 83 out of 168 countries in the world in terms of corruption so they are in the middle of the pact. Nothing to be proud of, but does not align with your statement that "China is one of the most corrupt countries in the world". Canada ranks 9th (which is good). But we are not totally clean either. Remember our former Prime Minister who took $300k in cash stuffed in an envelope and didn't report it as income in the year received? Just bringing a more global perspective to this discussion.

http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015

Take a look at the countries below China. Being the world's 2nd biggest economy yet ranking so low on this list is embarrassing.

our generous social programs

What are those generous programs? I can not recall any one of them. A new comer once asked me the same question, I tried very hard but failed to answer it. Can't blame me, What I know is that rental allowance of $375 in welfare hasn't been changed for years, probably for past 20 years, that can be called generous. Guys, we are piss poor, admitted. Do not live in your own small world any more.

Ohhhhh - so which is it? Canada is great place or Canada isn't a great place. Make up your mind.

Maybe jump back on the boat your crawled from and go somewhere else.

our generous social programs

What are those generous programs? I can not recall any one of them. A new comer once asked me the same question, I tried very hard but failed to answer it. Can't blame me, What I know is that rental allowance of $375 in welfare hasn't been changed for years, probably for past 20 years, that can be called generous. Guys, we are piss poor, admitted. Do not live in your own small world any more.

there's loans too

Ill take a 500k hit to better select the immigrants we want for our communities. The current wave do nothing much besides higher house values to enhance our neighbourhoods.
I bet I'm not alone.