Mr. Oliver - if you truly wanted change, you would not propose a tax, but demand regulation. Government could legislate a ban. That's right, the most comprehensive approach is a ban.

A tax is just an excuse. And it is an excuse that is causing bureaucracies to grow larger and more expensive every day. 

Can you imagine if our governments just banned things? 

Banning foreign ownership of residential property would solve the affordability issue in Canada pretty quickly - affordable housing is the catch word being used in place of saying "we are going to use taxpayer's money to build dwellings instead of banning the cause of unaffordability".

Banning sugary drinks instead of taxing them. Banning the expansion of roads and requiring all new transportation infrastructure funds to go to transit instead, in lieu of a carbon levy. Limiting population growth in Canada instead of applying a carbon levy in a country that relies on fossil fuels to survive winters.