Can we find harmony with a new tax on housing and services in the real estate industry? I don't think so and while the opinions in this column are purely mine, I can tell you that the real estate industry is not at all happy with the proposed tax and neither should you be from a real estate perspective.

Both the local real estate board as well as our Provincial association have been running the numbers and they don't look good.

While our Finance Minister is calmly purporting that the cost of goods will go down before the new tax is applied so we will see little net difference, I can tell you that is not true in almost all instances. Take for an example a $400,000 house or condo purchase in Kelowna, what does it mean to you if you purchase a pre-owned home? The answer is approximately $1,100 in additional taxes that you never used to pay before...still money is cheap right, just add it in to the mortgage! That is how we got into this mess in the first place.

To an out of town buyer looking at a $1 million retirement property there is an immediate additional $50,000 plus the PST on services. I need someone to explain to me how this helps our provincial economy when construction and real estate in general are two very large economic drivers for us and will continue to be for many years yet. The truth is in the fragile economy we are in this will simply send more buyers looking for recreational property to the US, which is already happening following the announcement of the impending HST.

It is a fallacy to think that prices of raw goods will come down prior to the application of PST where it never used to be. In fact this could be one of the most successful export programs announced in BC, except we will be exporting our money to buy properties in foreign markets.

It is strange to think that a government took the approach of spending their way out of a recessive economy to then turn round and tax our way out of a deficit!

There is a good deal of time to input in the process although the feedback from the government at this point is that their hands are tied and no changes can be accommodated. That being said, I am a firm believer that this is the wrong move at the wrong time for BC and will have the impact of:

Sending away buyers who were once again lining up to come here

Increase the value of all housing by 3-5%

Adding to inflationary pressures that we have reported we would expect to see over the next several years, which will lead to increased interest rates and at the end of the day, even more money coming out of your pocket and mine.

Will we get used to it... undoubtedly, we are a resilient breed, but in difficult times, how many economic hits can the average family continue to take?

You can be the judge of that, and send your comments to your local MLA, please.