Dear Editor,

[Re: Painful Truth: Build houses, bill Victoria, 91原创 Advance Times, June 8]

Since we are now coming up with ideas to solve Canada鈥檚 housing shortage, I will add my two cents worth.

Canada has the most housing on the planet.

Canada has 800 square feet per person compared to say China has 200 feet per person.

The problem is who gets to use all that housing.

The federal tax system can solve the problem which started in the 1970s when we had a white paper on taxation.

It was decided capital gains should be taxed but due to anger from the people residential real estate was made exempt from this tax.

Since that time the people have been obsessed with maximizing their tax free capital gain, and as a result the country has exploded with homes that have gotten bigger every year. You can see this in South 91原创 where the average new house has gone from 1,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet over the past 50 years.

The solution to housing is to tax the capital gain on housing. We could still exempt small homes say under 1,000 square feet.

We need to stop treating housing as a get rich scheme, but rather as a basic human right for every one.

Wally Martin, Murrayville

.