[mywittyname]

Own a bunch of shell companies that own a single property each.

Real estate ownership is a mess. It can be nearly impossible for people to figure out who actually owns property if the entity buying wishes to remain secret.

[rozap]

Could you get around this by requiring the residence be owned by a natural person to qualify for a primary residency tax rate?

[mywittyname]

Maybe, but a lot of people have legitimate reasons for holding their home in a trust.

If the savings are great enough, it would make sense to pay someone to "own" the house, with a contract saying that they must act at your direction. This isn't some crazy idea either, that's basically the approach that's already taken by these same people that hide their identities through shell companies. The "owner" of the shell company is some random B'zean who is paid to be a rubber stamp.

[Scoundreller]

Then charge the full tax rate when the ownership is a non-natural ???.