The housing crisis is an affordability crisis. There is no relief from the high cost of rent, for example. Among those who can pull together a down payment, an average of 60% of their household income goes toward home ownership costs. The problem, believes undergraduate student Elliott Gale-Wagner, is that investors are holding on to land and passively benefitting from its appreciation. Citing diverse sources ranging from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz, Gale-Wagner used his article, A Tax-Based Solution to Canada’s Housing Crisis, to argue a Land Value Tax is central to resolving the crisis. The article won the Smith Family Scholarship for Economic Policy and was recognized at the Undergraduate Awards of Excellence in Economics ceremony on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. The article, Gale said, is meant to challenge how people view housing.
“When most people look at housing, they look at real estate listings and see a house, a bundle of characteristics, and a price,” Gale-Wagner explained. “Economists break that bundle into its parts so we can analyze which components are driving inequality or becoming disproportionately expensive. Using national balance sheet data from 1990 to 2023, I focused on the difference between land value and structure value. My conclusion is that our tax system is constructed incorrectly. We tax property instead of land, and that disincentivizes property improvements and contributes to the housing crisis.”
The Victoria College student in his third-year credits having a broad, humanities-based education for his approach to the topic. His current degree is a double major in Economics and Ethics, Society and Law.
“We’ve all read Adam Smith’s early writings on how socially produced wealth can be privately captured,” he said. “Smith criticized landlords for earning wealth without working and for failing to reinvest the money they gain from passively owning property. That issue was later developed by Henry George and Joseph Stiglitz, but it still hasn’t been properly addressed. People talk about zoning or regulations, but no one talks about what’s under the structures, the land itself, and I wanted to get at that.”
The scholarship win is in alignment with Gale-Wagner’s future plans to enroll in the Combined Juris Doctor/Master of Arts Program that sees students complete a law degree and master’s in economics at the same time.
“My future is in policy. I’m pursuing my JDMA because I want to improve economic policy and effect real change,” he said. “Canada has deliberate policy positions that limit competition and hurt consumers, and I want to help address that.”
His work on the article for the scholarship application has already helped Gale-Elliott support his future education with an interesting summer job.
“Talking about the scholarship got me a position at the Ontario Energy Board,” Gale-Wagner said. “Now I’m going to be working to independently regulate Ontario’s electricity and natural gas sectors, and I’m happy about that. I had planned to take the summer off to study for the LSAT, but this opportunity changed everything. It’s been such a blessing, and it aligns with my interest in policy and improving people’s lives.”
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