Canada

Couldn’t read the paywalled article, but most of the commentary on social media seems to be people that completely misunderstand how their taxes on capital gains are calculated, like thinking the inclusion rate is how much tax is paid, or think that paying capital gains on a secondary property is a new thing. Really it’s paying around 8% more in taxes on the gain over $250k. Some think they’re getting taxed on the whole sale price, not just the increased value, some seem upset that they’re taxed on the “investment” that was bought with after tax dollars(even though capital gains is taxed lower than things like a regular investment account). Some think it’s somehow unfair to pay the capital gains on what they consider their retirement plan, even though they have the same option to put those gains into an RRSP to shelter it from taxes, they’re paying a lower inclusion rate than regular income.

One thing that seemed to come out that didn’t change much and seems a big deal to some, is if you want to pass the property to next of kin, make sure your estate is sitting on 25% of the increased value of the property to cover capital gains, or use a trust and pay the gains up front(though this just puts it off so the kids pay more gains to pass it to their kids) before it hits the estate.

Duh. I'm very much in the top 5% of annual wage earners in the country, and there's no way I could afford a decent cottage (i.e., where I can't see or hear my neighbours).

It really depends where you live. In northern Ontario, many working class people have a small cabin on a lake. It may be a plywood shack or log cabin, may lack plumbing and electricity, and may be a two or three hour drive into the bush on logging roads, but it's affordable. If you want a second suburban-style home with all the amenities on an easily accessible lake, well yeah, no shit that's going to be really expensive.

You can have a "vacation home" or a "yacht" and have it be middle-class affordable if you keep it small and away from the most expensive parts of the country.

Rather than devalue the term middle class, tell people they are lower class so they get angry about what has been stolen from them

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Some in cottage country have been singing the blues since Ottawa proposed changes to capital gains taxation as part of the recent federal budget.

More, not less, taxation of second properties is required to protect younger Canadians in the housing market, fill the revenue hole left by governments that did not plan adequately for boomers’ retirement, and spur productivity.

I genuinely sympathize when people struggle to ensure that a cherished cottage remains in the family, and I appreciate that taxation plays a role in complicating their planning.

Social Capital Partners, a non-profit focused on broadening access to ownership, rightly calls out this problem, lamenting the role that domestic, small-scale investors have played in crowding-out first-time buyers.

Canada could “make upward of a million [homes] available over the next decade” for aspiring owners, SCP observes, if we reduce the activity of investors in the housing system to levels that resemble their share of purchases 10 years ago – “all with no additional shovels.”

Since those profits are sheltered from taxation by comparison with labour earnings, the SCP proposal would reduce the tax advantage that helps investors outbid first-time buyers.

The original article contains 767 words, the summary contains 188 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Yea you gotta own both now