I like the idea of a vacancy tax

Upsetting. I was reading about small boutique-style business owners in Toronto being forced out because of high rents. In one story a local neighbourhood cafe and pastry shop shut down after her building was sold to a new owner. Their monthly lease was $3,000. The new owner came in with a new lease, charging $6,300 a month. That's just greed. There is a city in the U.S. -- I forget where exactly -- that passed a new law for a vacancy tax. If you own a building and set the rent so high that your spaces are vacant, they add 10 per cent to your property tax. I like that. If you're so greedy and set your rental rate so high that no one can afford it, then you cannot claim it is the market rate. So pay the vacancy tax or set your rent at a rate that businesses can afford.