U.S. lawmakers urge Canada to exempt Americans from tax

A bipartisan group of U.S. legislators is pushing to have Americans exempt from Canada’s new Underused Housing Tax.

A bipartisan group of U.S. legislators is pushing to have Americans exempt from Canada’s new Underused Housing Tax.

In a sharply worded letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 11 Republicans and Democrats from six states said the 1 percent tax on ownership of vacant or underused housing in Canada — which usually applies to nonresident, non-Canadian owners — “is unfairly impacting Americans who own property in Canada and putting the strong bond between our countries in jeopardy.”

The tax — which affects any property not occupied for six months of the year, according to Mansion Global — is being collected for the first time this year, though problems have arisen over issues such as obtaining a tax ID number, which has led to Canada postponing fines for late payment of the tax until Oct. 31.

Exemptions already exist for people who occupy a property for at least 180 days in a calendar year, for periods of at least 30 days, Mansion Global said.

The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Claudia Tenney, Brian Higgins, Joe Courtney (CT-2), Nicholas Langworthy (NY-23), Mike Kelly (PA-16), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Brian Mast (FL-21), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Jennifer Wexton (VA-10), Nancy Mace (SC-01) and Max Miller (OH-07).