Ok, there is no point in arguing the budget of the library or the civic centre or whatever else you think should be hit to help you save on your tax bill. We all have our own priorities.
But I am genuinely interested in what you mean by tax increases, what you mean by
[quote=“bthedog, post:1, topic:17041”] further tax increases to businesses and homeowners, who have been shouldering a massive burden of tax hikes for nearly 10 years in a row.
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And I am dead serious here. I want to learn. I want to know exactly what perimeters we are discussing. Because I don’t see the problem the same way you do.
As I pointed out in my previous post, my out of pocket taxes to the city since 2011 increased by 3% over four years (I mistakenly said five) which is an annual increase of 0.75%/year.
The inflation rate in Canada over the same period.:
2012 - 1.52%
2013 - 0.94%
2014 - 1.91%
2015 - 1.13%
total 5.50% almost double our (or at least my) inflationary tax increases.
Now I know that it is not as simple as this because city taxes are not determined the same as provincial and federal taxes which for us are income based. But question number 1. If I am in the 25% income tax bracket and I get a raise of $1000 my taxes will go up $250. Is that a tax increase or is that just our way of paying for the inflationary costs of government when we get those inflationary types of pay increases.
I am no expert on municipal tax rates. I am not even sure if tax property values is the fairest way to go but that is what we are dealing with. We start with our house assessments which is provincially controlled. Then the city sets a mill rate. Then I take money out of my pocket to pay. So when we see our house assessments going up like the have the past five years we automatically think tax increase.
In my case, my house value has gone up 28% since 2011, but my out of pocket taxes have only gone up 3%. And that is because the mill rate is set to adjust for those rising and falling house values.
In sum, since 2011, the value of my house has gone up 28%. The Canadian inflation rate has gone up 5.5%. But my out of pocket taxes have gone up only 3%. I don’t see the same heavy burden you do.
I feel I am starting to ramble here but slogging onward. I was told by someone in the know that defining tax increases particularly at the municipal level does get interesting.
The example I was given. A community of 10 houses each paying $1000 in taxes. An 11th house is built. The city collects its $1000. The other houses are still paying the same amount of money but the city has increased revenue of $1000. Some people define that as a tax increase even though nobody is out extra cash.
I really don’t know how much better the city has been doing since 2011. My guess is that more revenue has been coming in. Hopefully more revenue will continue to pour in. Maybe my out of pocket taxes will go down like they did in 2012 and 2014. That would be great. In the meantime though I am prepared to pay to maintain services in this community even it means a modest inflationary increase.