Cottage country facing change?

The annual lull after the storm of summer visitors to cottage country doesn’t seem to have materialized as fully as in past years. 

Lake access parking lots still hold plenty of vehicles. Town and village streets remain relatively busy. Post Labour Day traffic hasn’t lightened as much as might be expected. 

More people seem to be lingering this year. Perhaps it’s the weather, or maybe it’s a result of Covid-19. 

If the latter, I’m wondering whether we will see some dramatic changes in the future of cottage country. 

The Covid pandemic brought some changes with its late winter appearance. Concerned people bailed out of cities to head north and take refuge in cottages. Many were retirees, especially concerned because the virus was affecting older people more than others. 

Then businesses began closing to lessen spreading the infection, leaving some folks out of work, others forced to work from home. Many of them found themselves free to move to cottages while waiting for the virus threat to pass. 

The virus prevented people from travelling very far. In some cases, money saved from cancelled travel went into making cottages more comfortable, or had people out looking for cottages to rent or buy.

Covid aside, more people in general are yearning for an escape from modern realities and a return to nature, a simpler past and slower and safer lifestyle. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that 39 per cent of urban dwellers in the United States are thinking about moving to rural areas because of the pandemic and the increasing chaos of urban life. 

You can find more evidence of this on the Internet where the hashtag #cottagecore is driving millions of searches for old-fashioned cozy cottage lifestyles. 

Perhaps all this is temporary, just a panic-twinged reaction to the chaotic events of 2020. When Covid is controlled and memories of other chaos begin to fade, most people perhaps will settle into the life they had before 2020. 

However, if the interest in rural and cottage country living continues, and more and more people opt for it, the changes will be dramatic. There will be benefits, as well as disadvantages. 

More population means strain on services, including hospitals, policing and various utilities. More strain will require more staffing, which could bring more extensive medical care and other servicing. 

Population growth also will spur more business activity, which will require more employment. More people mean more homes, more building, more renovations and therefore more construction-related jobs. 

Larger populations also bring the problems that many urban dwellers now would like to leave behind – crowding, crime, horrendous traffic and pollution. 

Some people will favour any change. Others will be unhappy with disruption of life as they have known it. 

Whatever happens, whether it be small or huge, there will be change. It is inevitable, as we have seen in the past. 

My introduction to cottaging a long time ago was to one-room cabins built of logs hewn by hand and with spaces stuffed with moss to keep out critters and cold. Water came from pails hauled from the lake, and light came from coal oil lamps. 

That was in northwestern Ontario where cottages were (and still are) called camps.

Those very basic cottages, or camps, have evolved into mega-cottages with modern electrical or gas appliances and electronic gadgets that connect us to the outside world. 

The world evolves, and evolution naturally brings changes. We can’t avoid changes to many of the physical aspects of cottage country. But what we can protect from change is the most important and most valued part of cottage life – the cottage country state of mind. 

The cottage always has been a place to take a mental break from urban life. It’s the place where simple things like the call of a loon or the breeze rustling tree branches remind us that nature is our most precious asset. 

Nature is our greatest teacher. It reminds us who we really are and what our place really is in the greater scheme of things. It is constantly showing us what is right and what is wrong. 

Every teacher needs a well-equipped classroom, and nature’s classroom is cottage country. 

The unfair cottage tax

The campaigning has yet to hit full stride, but federal election day is just over a month away with plenty of serious issues to debate. There is one issue that will not see any debate, probably because it does not impact large swaths of voters.

That issue is the unfairness of the capital gains tax on cottages. It is an issue that causes much grief among older folks wanting to pass the family cottage on to the next generations.

Capital gains tax applies when a capital asset is sold for more than the purchase price. For instance, if you bought a stock for $1,000 and sold it for $10,000, capital gains tax applies to 50 percent of the $9,000 gain. So you pay tax on $4,500 at your marginal tax rate.

Seems fair enough. Make a profit, pay tax.

It’s not when it comes to trying to keep a cottage in the family.

Here’s the unfairness: You built a modest cottage on a lake 35 years ago. It cost $35,000 to acquire the lot and to get the bare bones basics built.

The children grew up enjoying the place, swimming, paddling, hiking, nightly campfires and all the other fun things children do at cottages. Suddenly they are adults with their own children and the cottage, which has undergone various renovations and additions, is being enjoyed by three generations.

People don’t last forever so the time arrives when the parents who built the place pass away, leaving the cottage to one or more children.

Improvements over the years added some value to the cottage. But basically it’s the same place, on the same lake, providing the same family enjoyment.

The improvements over the decades might have raised the total cost of the place to say, $100,000. However, when the children inherit it, they are shocked to find the market value is $600,000.

So federal tax law says that the market value of $600,000, minus the $100,000 total cost of the place, means there has been a capital gain of $500,000. The inheritors then are stuck with paying capital gains tax on one half of that gain, which could be a $100,000 or more tax bill depending on their marginal tax rates.

The children don’t have the money to pay the tax so they sell the cottage and pay the tax from the sale price. They now have a nice bundle of cash but the cottage that was a family treasure for 35 years is gone.

There no doubt are people who build or buy cottages to fix up and sell for profit. Their goal was to turn a profit, so it seems fair that they pay capital gains tax on the profit.

However, the family cottage enjoyed by three generations is different. The parents built it for pleasure, with no thought of financial gain. In fact, most family cottages are a financial drain – the price paid for the family’s enjoyment.

Improvements increased the cottage value. But they were made to accommodate the growing family. There was no expectation of financial gain or that the value one day would be $600,000.

A chunk of the increased value came from inflation. So part of the capital gains tax payable on the cottage is simply for inflation.

Look at it another way. You bought stocks in 2008 for $100,000. Over the 10-year period ended June 2018 inflation was roughly 16 per cent. So the $100,000 of stocks bought in 2008 now are worth $116,000 in 2018 dollars.

That $16,000 of inflation is a gain that is taxable if the stock is sold. Yet the $116,000 in 2018 dollars has no more purchasing power than the $100,000 in 2008 dollars. It is a larger number but because of inflation cannot buy more goods or services.

There are ways to reduce capital gains tax on a cottage passed to family members. However, finding the best ways involves hiring lawyers, accountants and realtors to work out the details.

I failed high school math twice so I’m not a reliable source on details of capital gains taxes. However, my rudimentary understanding tells me it is an unfair tax in legitimate cases of parents wanting to pass along the family heritage cottage to their children.

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