There are plenty of taxes and policies that are being hotly debated on the campaign, but the property transfer tax isn't one of them. Liberals mention changes to the tax in their respective platforms. "It is somewhat of a substantial revenue source for the government," said Bryan Yu, deputy chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union. Any change to the tax, Yu noted, would have an "impact on budgetary revenues going forward." The property transfer tax (PTT) was introduced by former Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm in 1987, when the average price of a Vancouver home was about $150,000, in order to tax speculation on high-end properties.

Source: CBC News April 22, 2017 21:43 UTC