Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to start by welcoming the witnesses, and thanking them for their participation and presentations.
My questions are for Mr. Taillon and have to do with the underused housing tax. As he pointed out, it may be a good idea if the purpose is to alter the behaviour of owners of properties that are vacant.
According to what the Minister of Finance said during the debate in the House, we are facing a housing and residential property shortage. There aren't enough houses and condos, so this is a way to make the housing supply more accessible to people. She said that the introduction of the underused housing tax would be one of many tools aimed at encouraging property owners not to leave dwellings vacant.
We discussed the measure with department officials at the last meeting. I know Ms. Dzerowicz and I pointed out that the purpose of the measure was to influence the behaviour of certain individuals. Foreign owners of underused residential units, condos and houses will be taxed, not to add to the government's coffers, but to influence those individuals' behaviour. Now, I'll turn to my question.
Mr. Taillon, if the point of the measure is not really to bring in tax revenue for the federal government, but to penalize a certain behaviour, do you think that will influence how judges interpret the law?