Calling it a tangle of red tape, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says B.C. should axe its speculation tax.
This week, the provincial government announced that to avoid paying the speculation and vacancy tax, affected residents will have to opt out of it.
Specifically, the government said people who own residential property in the taxable areas will receive a letter with clear instructions on how to complete a declaration and register an exemption.
On Thursday, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) said the opt-out portion was equivalent to negative billing.
WATCH: B.C. speculation tax draws new criticism
“Negative billing is not a fair way to tax someone,” said Kris Sims, B.C. director of the CTF. “It defies common sense to send more than a million B.C. homeowners a huge new tax bill unless they wade through a tangle of government red tape every year to prove that they aren’t speculators.
“This sounds like guilty until proven innocent.”
WATCH: B.C. homeowners must ‘opt out’ of speculation tax or they will be billed
The speculation tax will affect homeowners in select regions of B.C.: Metro Vancouver (excluding Bowen Island, Lions Bay and Electoral Area A, but including UBC), Greater Victoria, Nanaimo, Lantzville, Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Kelowna and West Kelowna.
“All owners of residential property in the designated taxable regions of B.C. must complete an annual declaration,” said the government. “Over 99 per cent of British Columbians are estimated to be exempt from the tax.”
According to a report from the Vancouver Sun, only 32,000 homeowners will be subject to the tax.
LISTEN: Mayors lash out at province over speculation tax opt-out
The CTF said “these new government tax letters are being sent to more than 1.6 million B.C. homeowners so the government can find and tax just 32,000 homeowners.”
Sims added, “How many new government employees have they hired to manage more than a million new tax documents and emails and follow-up phone calls flooding in? Are the departments ready for the deluge of disputes?
“When the NDP mentioned their speculation tax during the election, they were vague about how they would impose it on B.C. homeowners, but now the details show it will be an administrative nightmare that’s automatically taxing more than a million homeowners unless they can prove they don’t deserve it.”