Backgrounder: Home Equity Tax Grab
Canada’s federal finances are in rough shape these days.
Over the past 9 years, the Trudeau-NDP Coalition has racked up huge annual deficits and has increased our country's national debt to over $1.2 trillion.
Is it any wonder Prime Minister Trudeau and his Coalition partner Jagmeet Singh are hunting high and low for new taxes to help pay for more spending and costly future plans residence — just as scores of Oshawa families struggle to hang on to their home, put food on the table and pay their bills?
Publicly, Trudeau and his ministers have claimed that they have no plan to tax the funds you earn when you sell your principal residence — be it a house, townhome, condominium or apartment.
Have you ever wondered why Trudeau's government introduced a new requirement in 2016 to report the sale of a principal residence on your annual tax return, even though your home's equity is not taxable? Was this a coincidence or was the government setting the table for future tax grab?
His own government’s Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation paid a University of British Columbia-based ’think and change tank’ called Generation Squeeze (a group that lobbies for the transfer of wealth from older to younger Canadians) $250,000 in 2020 – and another $200,000 in 2022 – to study and report back on how, when, and at what rate, a tax on your home’s equity could be implemented.
The obvious target of a home equity tax is older Canadians who've worked hard to pay off their homes and enjoyed the benefits of capital appreciation — just like generations before them. Generation Squeeze’s website contains all the usual messages about victimhood and it’s clear that this group sees older Canadians as the real 'problem'. The head of this group believes that it’s time to tax the “housing wealth windfalls gained by many home owners while they sleep and watch TV.”
More recently, though, Trudeau’s actions reveal that the prospect of a home equity tax grab remains alive and well.
On June 25, 2024, Trudeau held a 'private' town hall (who knew there was such a thing?) with Generation Squeeze to discuss the group's research and recommendations for a home equity tax. Despite repeated media requests, Trudeau has refused to release the full transcript of this meeting. (Listen to the brief but revealing podcast about the event courtesy of Blacklock's Reporter.)
What’s Trudeau hiding?
And why does his government continue to fund Generation Squeeze's activities with your tax dollars if his ministers continue to claim that a home equity tax isn’t under consideration?
You can be sure that something's up — and we need to stop it now.
Are you ready to sign on and send a strong message?