Sight unseen

Canadian tax law and a US trend. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

Recently, I read about a vagary of Canadian tax law that piqued my interest.

I know, I know: “Canadian tax law.” I’m a lot of fun at parties, I assure you. But hear me out on this one.

I read about it in the context of the big federal election up North (next week). It turns out there’s been a running debate over whether capital gains from the sale of a primary residence should be taxed, or not taxed (traditional situation, mostly), or whether there should be a middle ground.

From what I hear, it’s not so much a big revenue-driving push, but instead a plan to make it less attractive for people to buy houses, renovate them, move into them for a bit to get favorable tax treatment, and then quickly flip them.

Much like here in the good ol’ US of A, Canadian real estate prices have largely gone through the roof: up 25% between February 2020 and February 2021.

That means the meat of the proposal is basically a limit on how often a Canadian can pull off a flip without having to pay tax on the p…