The HST is going, going, gone (well, in 18 months)—could the hated Property Transfer Tax be the next to go? The BC Conservative Party thinks so.

According to the Georgia Straight, the Tories are working on a campaign platform, which includes phasing out the PTT:

However, the resurgent B.C. Conservative Party is signalling that it would scrap the tax in the long term. That is, if it ever gets to form government.

The party’s position on this matter is laid out in a draft policy paper that will be presented to B.C. Conservatives when they hold their convention in Nanaimo on September 24.

“The Property transfer tax will be reduced then eliminated when economically feasible,” according to the document.

The PTT, of course, was brought in by then-Premier Bill Vander Zalm in the 1980s, and has been much loathed ever since. Every time a British Columbia has bought property since the Zalm left office, we have had to pay thousands in PTT—a one-percent tax on the first $200,000 value of a house, and an additional two percent on the remaining balance.

Your CTF is making plans to attend the BC Tories’ AGM September 24, where details on the policy are set to be announced. We'll be sure to keep you up-to-date.