Since 1987, the Property Transfer Tax (PTT) has been levied on all real estate transactions as follows:
Fair Markete Value / PTT Rate
First $200,000 / 1%
Balance over $200,000 / 2%
Originally, the PTT was considered a wealth tax, with the 2% portion expected to apply to only 5% of homes sold. In 2008, the 2% portion was levied on about 85% of homes sold, and rose even higher to 88% in 2009.
BC ranks worst among all provinces in terms of burden of land transfer taxes on homeowners. In fact, British Columbians pay 222% more in land transfer taxes per transaction than the average Canadian and the BC Government levies a PTT rate that is 129% higher than the average for Canadian provinces. Higher property prices are not solely to blame for this scenario; prices in British Columbia are 45% higher than the Canadian average, so the inequitable structure of the BC Government's PTT adds an additional burden of up to 177%.
The chart below shows the amount of revenue that the government has collected from the PPT in the past ten years.
Source: BC Minstry of Finance