Topic: Property tax rant...

[initial_D]

This just in .....................................
Alberta's Premier just gave himself and his cabinet members a BIG FAT RAISE.  Never asked anybody about it, didn't put it through the legislature for approval, nobody even voted on it.  Municipal mayors and council members routinely do the same thing while putting the boots to all unionized city workers.  That's OUR tax dollars being spent without any controls or checks or watchdog input.
"Lying, thieving scum"!  Remember this come next election folks.

Take something without asking/permission is consider stealing ... so I've been told as a kid ... The provincial gov't did off load the health premiums first to shut us up for whatever they will do later ...  

[tpl]

I'll vote for you if you choose to run.   

Thanks, but your confidence may be misplaced.  There's this very peculiar thing that happens the moment any normal, rational human being gets into elected office.  The integrity gene on the 3rd string of the 16th chromosome takes on an overnight transmutation from being an honest, reliable, upstanding locus (location of a gene) into that resembling the "scum sucking pig" array of nucleic acids.  I'm afraid I won't be able to help it.  Once I see the power, the influence, the access to free billions of dollars and that wonderful double dip pension plan, I will rob you blind.  "Conscience" will become my "Foreign" Affairs port folio.  Once I get issued my "Your vote gives me total unaccountability" bumper sticker (had to keep this a car theme), that's the only view you'll ever see of me for the next 4 years.  Well, maybe only 3.5 years.  The last 6 months, I'll be in grovel, "brown nose", suck up mode. 

You have got it!    So we need to invent a virus piggybacking on the common cold that will turn that 3rd string on the 16th  back again to normal rational.   If our virus discovers that the errant gene is corrupted beyond repair it should quickly turn itself into Ebola or Box Jellyfish venom and dispose of the elected person.
Sadly, now you have discovered the secret and are intending to capitalize on it you'll be the first to go..
 

[safristi]

  Nice JEANS....must be a DARWINIAN THANG.....!!!! ........I'm believing tha BIG BANG theory..more and moreso,,,,, .......I MAYREST on Sunday.....

[Snowman]

I now pay $6300 here in Sudbury….insane. Having a lot with 75’ frontage kills me 

Move to Quebec, Snow  I've got a '95 x '85 lot, 2,444 sq ft bungalow 15 minutes from parliament and we are paying just over $2,000.... I'll teach you all the french swear words!

No mining in your area, but if you find me something that pays $150k/yr I’m all ears….and wifey make 6 figures as well....two for one deal.

[random006]

I now pay $6300 here in Sudbury….insane. Having a lot with 75’ frontage kills me 

Move to Quebec, Snow  I've got a '95 x '85 lot, 2,444 sq ft bungalow 15 minutes from parliament and we are paying just over $2,000.... I'll teach you all the french swear words!

No mining in your area, but if you find me something that pays $150k/yr I’m all ears….and wifey make 6 figures as well....two for one deal.

Besides, not all QC areas are that cheap.  My former house in Westmount has a tax bill of almost $11,000.    That is double what the total bill (municipal and school) was when we bought the place.  It is a semi-detached 2 storey (plus basement) 4 bedroom home, typical for the area.  It has 1100 sq ft per floor.

[initial_D]

$11,000 a year in tax? Wow, that is high. $916.67 per month, equivalent of paying for a luxury car.

[johngenx]

Some friends of ours in West Vancouver paid over $1K a month in property taxes.  They were retired and had lived in the house for 30 years and the escalating tax bill forced them to move.  True that their modest bungalow was worth $2M at the end of the day (it wasn't expensive when they bought it), so they could move easily, but they would have preferred to stay.  If you're not willing to break into the equity of your home, tax bills based on market values can be a killer...

[safristi]

$2 MILLION.............................

[initial_D]

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[dr_spock]

$11,000 a year in tax? Wow, that is high. $916.67 per month, equivalent of paying for a luxury car.

But that's Westmount.   They have to pay for those English stop signs somehow. 

[rrocket]

Wow...that's crazy.  I pay $2200/year, and that's with a boat launch and beach rights...

[wing]

I looked at the QC side here and at my income level it made no sense.  There is an online calculator.  In income tax I would pay $12,000 more in taxes a year in QC than in Ontario!  That is insane.

I pay $3800 a year in property tax though

About $0.01 for every $1 of property value

[dorin]

Some friends of ours in West Vancouver paid over $1K a month in property taxes.  They were retired and had lived in the house for 30 years and the escalating tax bill forced them to move.  True that their modest bungalow was worth $2M at the end of the day (it wasn't expensive when they bought it), so they could move easily, but they would have preferred to stay.  If you're not willing to break into the equity of your home, tax bills based on market values can be a killer...

This is why I would prefer a system where the property tax is based on one's purchase price for the house.  Then there can be a big capital (equity) gain tax for when the house gets sold.  The idea would be to change the current system in a revenue-neutral way so that people are not taxed out of their homes just because they happen to live there a log time and the neighbourhood takes off.

[ArticSteve]

That would suit me.

[tpl]

Some friends of ours in West Vancouver paid over $1K a month in property taxes.  They were retired and had lived in the house for 30 years and the escalating tax bill forced them to move.  True that their modest bungalow was worth $2M at the end of the day (it wasn't expensive when they bought it), so they could move easily, but they would have preferred to stay.  If you're not willing to break into the equity of your home, tax bills based on market values can be a killer...

This is why I would prefer a system where the property tax is based on one's purchase price for the house.  Then there can be a big capital (equity) gain tax for when the house gets sold.  The idea would be to change the current system in a revenue-neutral way so that people are not taxed out of their homes just because they happen to live there a long time and the neighbourhood takes off.

No.   Property taxes should be based on the services your property  uses.    Big house and or more people more tax for things like roads, sewage, sidewalks garbage etc..  Then a tax for local improvements, ideally put to a vote for all the goodies that people like in their communities.  And then the major services provided wholly or partly by the municipality like policing, schools, fire etc.   All laid out as separate charges on the tax bill  and increased as required to provide those services  and pay the people who actually do the work.   Then the purchase price of the house and the future value would be less important.
Now, no scheme is perfect and if someone lived in an area where the residensts continually voted for more services from the municipality they'd end up paying higher taxes.
Note that services  that are not under full or partial control of the municipality should not be on property tax.  Welfare in all its guises being the prime example; those should be paid for from graduated income taxes collected by a senior government.

[xviper]

No.   Property taxes should be based on the services your property  uses.    Big house and or more people more tax for things like roads, sewage, sidewalks garbage etc..  Then a tax for local improvements, ideally put to a vote for all the goodies that people like in their communities.  And then the major services provided wholly or partly by the municipality like policing, schools, fire etc.   All laid out as separate charges on the tax bill  and increased as required to provide those services  and pay the people who actually do the work.   Then the purchase price of the house and the future value would be less important.
Now, no scheme is perfect and if someone lived in an area where the residensts continually voted for more services from the municipality they'd end up paying higher taxes.
Note that services  that are not under full or partial control of the municipality should not be on property tax.  Welfare in all its guises being the prime example; those should be paid for from graduated income taxes collected by a senior government.

That's too logical.  Makes too much sense.  I doubt that any politician would have that kind of rationale and the few who do, would never stand a chance in the environment we now know as "SILLY" hall.  That has generally been a place where strong reasoning is weak and reasonable thinking is struck down by loud voices powered by hidden agendas.

[dorin]

Some friends of ours in West Vancouver paid over $1K a month in property taxes.  They were retired and had lived in the house for 30 years and the escalating tax bill forced them to move.  True that their modest bungalow was worth $2M at the end of the day (it wasn't expensive when they bought it), so they could move easily, but they would have preferred to stay.  If you're not willing to break into the equity of your home, tax bills based on market values can be a killer...

This is why I would prefer a system where the property tax is based on one's purchase price for the house.  Then there can be a big capital (equity) gain tax for when the house gets sold.  The idea would be to change the current system in a revenue-neutral way so that people are not taxed out of their homes just because they happen to live there a long time and the neighbourhood takes off.

No.   Property taxes should be based on the services your property  uses.    Big house and or more people more tax for things like roads, sewage, sidewalks garbage etc..  Then a tax for local improvements, ideally put to a vote for all the goodies that people like in their communities.  And then the major services provided wholly or partly by the municipality like policing, schools, fire etc.   All laid out as separate charges on the tax bill  and increased as required to provide those services  and pay the people who actually do the work.   Then the purchase price of the house and the future value would be less important.
Now, no scheme is perfect and if someone lived in an area where the residensts continually voted for more services from the municipality they'd end up paying higher taxes.
Note that services  that are not under full or partial control of the municipality should not be on property tax.  Welfare in all its guises being the prime example; those should be paid for from graduated income taxes collected by a senior government.

Sure, that works even better albeit it's more complicated.  Either way, there are way better ways to pay to tax property than basing property taxes solely on a theoretical value assessment.

[kelli]

I now pay $6300 here in Sudbury….insane. Having a lot with 75’ frontage kills me 

It's an assessment year too, isn't it? Well crap.

[mrthompson]

How is your house, Kelli?  Any hidden problems (I hope not)?

[tenpenny]

Here in Saint John, NB, I thought we were hurting with a rate of $1.795/$100 of assessed value.  (Assessments are based on current market value).  But seeing the numbers people are quoting, it's not so bad I guess.