It's time to ask a bit more from those who've gained the most
Many older homeowners have been fortunate in Canada's housing system. They entered the housing market at the right time, before decades of rising prices pushed housing out of reach of earnings.
For these homeowners, high and rising prices have yielded outsized gains in housing wealth.
For renters and aspiring owners, the same high prices have yielded punishing unaffordability.
It's time to rethink housing policies that help keep prices high to protect the wealth of those who won the lottery of good timing, while obliging those who follow to endure the harms of rising costs and growing financial insecurity.
We can begin to restore a level housing playing field by implementing a modest annual surtax on the value of properties above $1 million.
Some will dismiss this as a radical idea. But in reality, it's just a small adjustment to the property tax systems already in place across Canada. One that would affect only about 1 in 10 households - mostly in Ontario and BC where stratospheric price increases have generated the most wealth for homeowners.
Why Put a Surtax on Million-Dollar-Homes
A small surtax on million-dollar-homes will help fix things we all care about: unaffordable housing, growing medical care pressures, and flagging productivity. All by asking a minority of homeowners to share a small slice of the wealth windfalls our housing system has created for them.
1. Protect the dream of home
Thanks to runaway home prices, housing security now depends more on inheriting family wealth than it does on how hard you work. Our housing system has turned Canada from a (never-perfect) meritocracy into a landed aristocracy.
A small surtax on million-dollar-homes would help slow price escalation, and generate funds to invest in more affordable, co-op and rental homes, giving the next generation a better shot at finding a place to call home.
It’s an act of intergenerational solidarity that helps keep our housing system rooted in the promise that a good home should be within reach for what effort can earn.
2. Honour the legacy of those who built our country
Decades ago, governments failed to plan for the cost pressures that they knew would come with an aging population. They didn't make sure the revenue being collected was enough to fund the healthy retirements we all want for our aging loved ones.
Now, younger Canadians are quietly carrying a heavier load — paying higher taxes for medical care and income supports than the baby boom generation paid for their elders.
It’s time for those of us who’ve benefited the most from rising home values to pitch in a bit more, and share the load with our kids and grandkids. We've done it before after all, accepting larger payments to make sure the Canada Pension Plan would continue to fund healthy retirements. We can do it again.
A modest contribution from the small number of households who've gained the most housing wealth will help sustain the health system on which we all rely, binding the generations together.
3. Prioritize investment in productivity
Canada has always thrived on hard work, ingenuity, and building things that last. Yet our tax system now leans the other way — protecting unearned wealth gains from rising land values, while taxing every in the pay cheques we earn through our own effort.
A modest surtax on million dollar homes would help restore our commitment to productivity and innovation, shifting investment away from housing speculation and toward the industries that drive entrepreneurship, productivity, clean growth, and the next generation’s prosperity.
