The municipal council in Kaslo, B.C. wants non-residents to pay higher property taxes than those who live in the village year round.

The community on the shores of Kootenay Lake in southeastern B.C. has seen real estate values skyrocket, partly because of speculation by out-of-town property owners, according to Mayor Jim Holland.

"With this resort-style development, there's increased pressure and demands on the [residential] ratepayer that actually help support some of the more investment-style or development-style or speculative-style of real-estate market," Holland said.

The mayor said he wants to adjust tax rates for non-resident landowners because rising real-estate values are making it harder for some locals to keep up.

There are just over 1,000 permanent residents in Kaslo, a place with a strong volunteer spirit where permanent residents regularly participate in community projects. They deserve to be rewarded, Holland said.

The trend toward market-driven real estate has created a need for a new way of taxing, Holland said, and that might mean absentee property owners will have to pay more.

"By creating a new property tax class it could give each municipality the option to increase or lower tax rates or whatever on those non-resident properties," he said.

Last week, Kaslo's municipal council voted in favour of taking the proposal to the Union of B.C. Municipalities in hopes of gaining support. The next UBCM convention will be held in Penticton on Sept. 22.

Vancouver mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson has floated a similar proposal. He wants the owners of Vancouver's 18,000 vacant condo units to pay business property taxes, rather than residential property taxes.