When it comes to dealing with senior government bureaucrats, the best piece of advice I can give is this: Don’t believe anything until it has officially been denied.

Case in point: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation just released several emails the organization received on a plan the federal government’s Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) was considering to tax people’s homes at the time they are sold.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation provides the details:

Despite repeated denials last summer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation paid $250,000 for a study that would include an examination of “tax policy that privileges home ownership,” according to documents exclusively obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

In Canada, homeowners do not currently pay tax when they sell their primary residence, the home they are living in.

Last summer, a story from online news site Blacklock’s Reporter stated the research was examining the idea of a home equity tax.

In the wake of the story being published on Jul. 17, 2020, both the CMHC’s communications department and then-CEO Evan Siddall issued multiple statements about the story being false.

Siddall directly attacked the reporting and Blacklock’s in multiple statements.

A series of emails between Kershaw and Siddall were also obtained by the Taxpayers Federation. They show Siddall was aware of the focus on home taxation changes before the study even received funding.

READ: CMHC spent $250,000 on home tax study, despite denials

Apparently, the CMHC considers homeownership a privilege that must be punished.