Political Action Committee

I am in Ottawa for the Political Action Committee for the Canadian Real Estate Association. I am the Chair for Government Affairs Committee for the Alberta Real Estate Association. Okay, after all that introduction, we are here to talk with our MPs about rolling over the capital gains tax. 58% of all rental properties are owned by people who earn less than $50,000. Many of these people are holding on to properties because of the taxes they will have to pay if they sell. What we are lobbying for is that if these people sell and then reinvest wthin a year, they will not be subject to capital gains tax. This way new investors can buy these properties and refurbish them, providing jobs and making our communities look better. For example, this would help downtown Brooks.

Also, we are looking at indexing the home buyers plan. This means that the amount of money in RRSPs home buyers can use increases along with inflation. Up until last year, $20,000 was the maximum, and that was the same since this program started many years ago. Last year we got it raised to $25,000.