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The B.C. government israising the 2018 homeowner grant threshold to $1.65 million.

The tax relief, designed to help property owners deal with sharp increases in assessment, offers $570 to owners of properties worth less than $1.65 million.

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The threshold is up from $1.6 million last year and $1.2 million in 2016.

However, Tom Davidoff, director of the UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, told Postmedia that raising the threshold was unnecessary.

“Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to reduce property tax burdens,” Davidoff said. “I think we should be raising property taxes and cutting other taxes.”

Davidoff is an advocate for a provincial housing affordability fund, which would see B.C. homeowners who don’t pay income taxes in Canada pay a 1.5-per-cent property surtax targeting owners of properties left vacant or those with limited economic ties to the country. Money raised by such a tax could be used to finance local housing initiatives or other public services or cut other taxes, he said.

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