Finance committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, yes, as per the answers provided yesterday by the minister and Mr. Jovanovic, that is correct.

Finance committee  We consulted with many people—industry, in particular—from the three different sectors affected, but it's not at all usual or normal for us to consult with the PBO. If I can point out something, Mr. Chair, the PBO in their legislative note when they costed the luxury tax said t

Finance committee  I can answer that question. I could follow up with a written response too. Of all the three asset classes, around 70% of the revenues, we believe, will come from automobiles, roughly 20% from boats and the remainder from aircraft.

Finance committee  Perhaps I could take that one, Mr. Chair. To maybe put this in perspective, if you look at the amount of revenue that this measure is estimated to generate—it's only an estimate—it's $10 million per year in the context of a $2-trillion plus economy. Mechanically, you're correct—

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, it may be better for me to answer, simply because I've dealt with this aspect of the measure more than Ms. Riddell has.

Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I can attempt to answer that question. I'm not sure if it will be a satisfying answer. We're here from the tax policy branch at the Department of Finance, and I think the issue at hand here is that it's not so much a tax as it is a total ban or prohibition. A tax is so

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have nothing to offer the committee on this question.

Finance committee  Again, the primary purpose of any tax is to raise revenues. As for the rate, that's a government policy decision.

Finance committee  I have no comment on that question.

Finance committee  Yes, again, we have one example to appeal to in Canada. That's the B.C. speculation and vacancy tax. After the first year of that tax, the number of taxpaying entities, persons or organizations dropped by about 50%. That's because the property was either sold or rented out. We'v

Finance committee  I don't have any information to share with the committee on that.

Finance committee  It's very simply that the four provinces where this federal fuel charge applies are the provinces where the funds are raised and the provinces where they will be returned.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can respond to this. As mentioned earlier, there's a real dearth of information on vacancies writ large across the country. What we do have is data from the Canada housing statistics program on foreign ownership. We have that for four provinces. We have s

Finance committee  Thank you. I'll take this question. I'll make one remark, first, on the nature of the tax. To be a tax, the primary purpose of an instrument has to be to raise revenues. That is the primary purpose of the unused housing tax. It's not the only purpose but it's the main thing. It