Vancouver fights back in tax battle over US$20 million property linked to Chinese billionaire NPC member Zheng Jianjiang
- Enforcement of a US$190,000 vacancy tax bill on a home owned by the wife of air-conditioning tycoon Zheng Jianjiang is ‘reasonable and correct’, the city says
- The home, since demolished, was uninhabitable and filled with ‘large amounts of human/animal faeces’, says the owner’s lawsuit against the tax bill
Vancouver’s municipal authorities are fighting back in court to collect a massive tax bill on a C$26.8 million (US$20.4 million) property linked to the Chinese billionaire parliamentarian Zheng Jianjiang.
The seaside property, owned by Zheng’s wife, He Yiju, is on Belmont Avenue, one of Canada’s most expensive streets. It was hit with the vacancy tax bill of C$249,313.67 (roughly US$190,000) in 2017, representing 1 per cent of the property’s value at the time.
The house on the site was demolished in recent months, to make way for a planned 31,393 sq ft home.
But in 2017, when the city declared the previous home vacant and subject to the tax, it was already “uninhabitable” and contaminated by asbestos, mould and “large amounts of human/animal faeces”, according to a private hazard report filed in support of a lawsuit by He seeking to quash the tax bill.
The British Columbia Supreme Court petition, filed on June 18, says that building and demolition permits were sought in April 2017, but were not issued until February 11 this year, through no fault of He’s.