Koogie wrote: ↑03 Feb 2018 18:15
That is the main issue I have with the CRA. Effectively they are saying if you are to large and to good of a criminal they won't bother with you.
They prefer the low hanging fruit of law abiding taxpayers who are stupid enough to be honest, obey the rules and file their taxes every year.
If that isn't a broken system I don't know what is.
I share these sentiments.
It's extremely frustrating to think that there is a higher chance of an audit because I file an error on an item not amounting to more than a few hundred dollars vs. brazen real estate cheats who buy multi-million dollar houses and report <$100 in worldwide income.
Couldn't agree more.The level of ineptness the CRA has descended to is downright scary.
While random audits may be justified, is it really necessary to pursue a disputed medical claim of $23.28 for hearing aid batteries, the file of which has now been passed on to another CRA rep. Perhaps to someone a little higher up in the ranks of the Keystone Cops, or maybe the 1st rep had to be urgently dispatched to deny a claim for some poor schmuck's bus pass.
Like I said on another thread, if the CRA needs to be gutted and rebuilt from scratch, so be it!
Foreigners living in Canada have boosted their share of the country's mortgages in the last two years, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto, as young home buyers are bankrolled by their parents overseas, the federal housing agency said on Tuesday.
Nearly 10 per cent of mortgages issued to people under the age of 25 in Canada's two hottest housing markets in 2016 went to non-permanent residents, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Agency (CMHC) said in a statement. This signifies "some younger NPR (non-permanent residents) may be receiving parental support to purchase homes," it noted.
...
In Vancouver, academics and politicians have identified a trend of luxury homes whose buyers describe their occupation as "student," prompting concerns that they are proxies for wealthy foreign parents who are not paying local taxes.
"It seems that Canada has some of the most expensive dormitory rooms in the world and it's financed by mortgages," said Andy Yan, director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University.
In a 2015 case study, Yan found that 5 per cent of homes that traded hands over a six-month period in a prime swath of Vancouver were purchased by students, with the average sales value of those homes at $3.2 million.
Reminder: Kathleen Wynne exempted foreign students from the foreign buyers tax. Why???
Because the country is run by idiots on all fronts. And while Toronto and Vancouver RE is taking a breather, Montreal's real estate jumped 13% YOY. We need a national strategy that prevents shelter from being traded like a commodity.
nisser wrote: ↑07 Feb 2018 20:25
We need a national strategy that prevents shelter from being traded like a commodity.
No, we do not!
finiki, the Canadian financial wiki
“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.” [Richard P. Feynman, Nobel prize winner]
EDIT: I was able to read it but the link doesn't open any more. I think they put the article behind the paywall. Nothing in the article is really new... just a very thorough, long overview.
EDIT: I was able to read it but the link doesn't open any more. I think they put the article behind the paywall. Nothing in the article is really new... just a very thorough, long overview.
Here is a bypass that came up on a Google search of the title.
"On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?"
Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1830
I think the disagreement will always be there.
One of us is close to the drain (not me) and has nothing to gain from a national strategy and the other isn't, and is seeing the impact that this plays on the younger and future generation of Canada.
ig17 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2018 08:46
The Financial Times published a long article on the state of Canada's housing marking.
It loses a certain amount of cred with this in the 2nd para:
The two-bed condominium she bought for C$259,000 in 2015 was revalued last year at C$490,000 ($391,000), meaning higher annual property taxes to pay and larger maintenance fees.
ig17 wrote: ↑08 Feb 2018 08:46
The Financial Times published a long article on the state of Canada's housing marking.
It loses a certain amount of cred with this in the 2nd para:
The two-bed condominium she bought for C$259,000 in 2015 was revalued last year at C$490,000 ($391,000), meaning higher annual property taxes to pay and larger maintenance fees.
Agree. But the rest of the article is more competent than that.
nisser wrote: ↑08 Feb 2018 12:46
I think the disagreement will always be there.
One of us is close to the drain (not me) and has nothing to gain from a national strategy and the other isn't, and is seeing the impact that this plays on the younger and future generation of Canada.
You need to have empathy to comprehend the impact on the younger and future Canadians. Empathy is not a universal trait.
nisser wrote: ↑08 Feb 2018 12:46
I think the disagreement will always be there.
One of us is close to the drain (not me) and has nothing to gain from a national strategy and the other isn't, and is seeing the impact that this plays on the younger and future generation of Canada.
You need to have empathy to comprehend the impact on the younger and future Canadians. Empathy is not a universal trait.
Canada could have a housing strategy to do a TKO on greedy speculation and allocate those funds, such as windfall taxes, into affordability for our younger/future generations. Affordability could be policy if governments themselves, addicted to land transfer taxes, we're not so conflicted and also beholden to the 1%.
So, what happens if we get a major correction? A bunch of foreigners lose their shirts and the Canadian housing market becomes affordable to the future generations for a while.
Would it be better to have Canadians lose their shirts and then housing becomes "affordable" to people who no longer have any money?
It not like the first scenario has never happened before. Japan owned a lot of the USA during the 90's...now not so much.
If people weren't so desperate to own a house, and think of things from a business/financial side instead of emoitional, they probably wouldn't have bid up prices due to low interest rate "affordability" to begin with. No one bedroom apartment in a glass box should be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to anyone with a brain.
Just a Guy wrote: ↑08 Feb 2018 15:37
So, what happens if we get a major correction? A bunch of foreigners lose their shirts and the Canadian housing market becomes affordable to the future generations for a while.
Would it be better to have Canadians lose their shirts and then housing becomes "affordable" to people who no longer have any money?
I agree. I'm glad that foreigners are holding the bag instead of a future generation of Canadians
Foreign money has been a blessing for Vancouver and Toronto homeowners especially now that prices have stalled
That may be good for long term owners but young people are screwed. It's also damaging to the economy as a whole. Businesses can't attract young talent, and in the rush to satisfy the demand for multi-million dollar homes there is nothing being built for the working class to live in. People start commuting longer distances, clogging bridges, increasing traffic and pollution and make life less enjoyable for everyone. There are winners of course, real estate agencies, banks, construction companies and long term holders of real estate. But to cash in they have to move away.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." Mike Tyson
What, you can't have everything you want exactly the way you want it??? That's not right, call Justin and have him legislate everyone gets beach front property within walking distance of a high paying job and it can only rain when people are asleep, otherwise it has to be a nice sunny day. Oh, and I have to have the nicest house on the block, and new cars, and I can eat whatever I want and not get sick. If I do, the company who sold me the food has to pay compensation.
A lady with an accent came up to me as I was filling my car at the gas station. She asked (demanded) help as her credit card wasn't working and it was too cold. I put the card in the right way up but couldn't do anything about the cold.
So, the prices are going down. Quite fast, apparently.
Question to people "with empathy" - are you happy now? How low do house prices have to fall to make you happy? Should "the government" take additional measures to impede foreign money from flowing into our housing market?
Any empathy for Canadians who bought last March in the GTA and lost hundreds of thousands - or do they deserve it?
Any empathy for landlords who are basically screwed because not only are they subjected to negative cash flow and rent controls, now their asset value is declining plus its now legal for their tenants to smoke and grow weed?
* I empathize with those who buy a property in which it is used as a principal residence for themselves and their family.
* I also care about responsible landlords who need to make a decent cap rate to provide and sustain the capital for residential housing in order to supply the rental market, primarily multi-family housing.
* I don't care about anyone else 'profiting' from RE, especially: those speculating for outsized capital gains of any type, those NOT interested in the long term residential rental market (such as VRBO, BnB), and those using RE as a money laundering scheme (highly prevalent in GVR).
The latter two can be mostly fixed with the proper provincial legislation and municipal bylaws. There will always be outliers.
FWIW, I personally know individuals, including family members, who are responsible landlords of 1-10 units providing long term rental accommodation to the tenant market. I applaud them for being in this business to increase rental supply.
So this just doesn’t pass the sniff test on the money laundering. If the cash is dirty, then they “lend” it to someone else, the cash is still dirty. Any real estate purchase is registered so the drug dealers have just passed on the problem. The home purchaser has to explain where the cash comes from or they’ll have it seized.
As outlined, this scenario wouldn’t work today as the cash origin would still have to be explained. At best it would pass on the problem to he home purchaser who, when confronted would point to the lender, which would put the spotlight on them...something they are trying to avoid.
I have done a lot of “cash” purchases and they’ve all been reported. Of course mine are all bank transfers and not actual cash, so I don’t have hassles.