Advocates say program allowed cash-poor seniors to stay in place, but critics say it was being abused
Justin McElroy · CBC News
A longtime tax break offered by the B.C. government to homeowners is being reformed, with the province hoping it stops getting exploited for unintended purposes.
Finance Minister Brenda Bailey announced in the 2026 budget that B.C.’s property tax deferment program would be changed so that homeowners will get less of a deal if they ask the government to pay their municipal property taxes.
“It is not a revenue measure, that’s not the goal,” said Bailey. “The goal is to push aside people who don’t really need it, but [still] make it available for people who do.”
Currently, the program allows any homeowner over 55 years old to defer their taxes indefinitely at two per cent below prime rates — with no compounded interest— and gives the same offer to families with children at prime rates.
Should the budget pass, people using the program would have to pay compounded interest back to the government going forward, and at two per cent above prime rate.
‘Savings of tens of thousands of dollars’
Bailey said the tax deferment program was intended to help home-rich and cash-poor seniors continue to age in place, without feeling the pressure to move.
But as knowledge of the program spread, so did conversation that the program could be manipulated by people who were home- and cash-rich property owners.
“You’re almost better with deferring your property taxes, being charged this very low rate, and doing something else with your money,” said Mark Ting, a partner with Foundation Wealth, in his weekly On The Coast column with CBC News in 2024.
Because B.C.’s interest rate was often below one per cent over the last decade, those with means could take that money, invest in low-risk funds, and almost be guaranteed to come out with profits. In 2016, more than 6,000 homeowners in the City of Vancouver used the program.
“Over decades … it could be savings of tens of thousands of dollars, just because of the simple interest,” said Ting.
Stopping waste, or ‘attacking seniors’?
While the change was applauded by some on social media, B.C.’s provincial seniors’ advocate criticized the move.
“Those seniors who were kind of on the edge of doing this program, will probably now not do it because they’ll be scared of the debt that they’ll be accumulating,” said Dan Levitt.
In the legislature on Wednesday, the B.C. Conservative Party said the change was designed to “attack seniors.”
“How can the minister look seniors in the face and say this is a good change and they should be thanking this government for it?” said MLA Peter Milobar.
In response, Bailey focused on the possible misuse of the system.
“It was designed to support seniors staying in their homes,” she said.
“What happened instead, because the rate was prime minus two, is folks who didn’t need it accessed it, and took that cheap funding and invested it to make money. That is not what taxpayers want to use their dollars for.”
