A 93-year-old woman trying to gift land to her kids has been hit with Trudeau’s new capital gains tax and fears she can’t afford to help her family anymore.

“I’m on pension. How am I going to pay for that?” asked Liz Diachun from Ontario.

It’s a good question. According to Diachun, she was just trying to do something nice for her kids, sectioning off two lots so they could build their own homes.

However, she was informed by her lawyer that even though the lots were intended as gifts, they would need to be appraised for possible federal tax purposes.

It turns out that the values of the two lots, one appraised at $125,000 and the other at $145,000, were just high enough to fall under the Liberal government’s new capital gains tax inclusion rate of 66% for anything over $250,000.

And now, she has to pay $40,000 in capital gains if she wants to gift the land to her kids.

“I’m not one of the wealthy. I’m 93 years old,” Diachun told reporters. “Who is going to give me a mortgage? Who is going to give me a loan?”

Not just a tax on the rich, after all

Since announcing Budget 2024, the Liberal position has been that the capital gains tax would only affect the rich, completely ignoring legitimate criticism from both small business leaders and elderly Canadians.

“So yes, we’re asking those who have, for whom the system has worked very well, who have done well over these past years to recognize that investing right now in the success of young people, it’s not just a nice thing to do, it’s essential to do,” Trudeau said in April, claiming that being taxed at a higher rate was just part and parcel of doing “their fair share”, as if they haven’t already.

Indeed, the Liberal slogan since unveiling the tax hike has been ‘a fairer Canada for everyone’.

“It is fair to ask those who are doing really well to contribute a little bit more,” echoed Deputy PM Freeland.

However, given today’s case, it’s clear that it’s anything but fair: it’s just another wealth grab.