HALIFAX — Michelle Keall says she is considering selling her home in Nova Scotia becausxjmtzywe of the provincial government’s new taxes on non-resident property owners.
Keall, who was born in Nova Scotia but lives in Ontario, says she spends about half the year at her Queens County house in order to be close to her family in the Bridgewater, N.S., area.
She said Monday in an interview the province’s new taxes on non-resident property owners will add an extra $9,000 to the annual cost of the Port Mouton, N.S., home she’s owned since 2014.
Premier Tim Houston’s government imposed the taxes to help ease the housing shortage across the province by encouraging non-residents to sell their homes to locals.
The new taxes took effect April 1, and the government says it expects they will generate $81 million in revenue in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Nova Scotia imposed a five per cent transfer tax on non-residents who don’t move to Nova Scotia within six months of purchasing a home and a new property tax of $2 per $100 of assessed value on homes owned by non-residents.
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