Quote:
Originally Posted by SebC
One significant difference between a lot in Sunnyside is and a lot in the suburbs is that residents in Sunnyside have paid off the capital costs of their infrastructure many times over. Yes, a particular house and lot will cost more in the inner city than it would in the suburbs, but that's not the right comparison to be making. A person in a $500,000 condo downtown subsidizes a person in a $500,000 house in the suburbs (because while they pay the same taxes, the person in the house consumes far more city resources) and that's where the problem is.
Furthermore, "we've got to subsidize the suburbs becasue that's where the poor live" is self-fulfilling. Susidizing the suburbs is part of why it's cheaper to live there. Again, I'm not against progressive taxation at the muncipal level, but there should be a semblance of "user-pay" between people of equal means.
Obviously where you work is part of it, but I contend that centralized employment is overall good for city. Labour mobility, dual income households, efficient public transit etc.
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It doesn't matter that sunnyside has paid off its infastructure many times over. The options to add a new family to calgary are bulldoze and infill or build out. So it really comes back to lot size. Location contributes nothing to sprawl.
Also even if you doubled suburban taxes I don't think you see much of a shift in the way people live. You would however see a shift in property values. As the tax burden is lowered for those in the inner city it becomes more affordable so demand increases and price increases to meet it. In the burbs demand would drop and prices would drop until equlibrium is reached. And the effect on monthly mortgage payment vs taxes is minimal. In my case less than 10% so relative to my total monthly housing expenses taxation has very little effect.
I don't know what is out there now but when I decided to buy and move to the burbs I did look inner city first. In the sub 450k market there was nothing really in the 3 bedroom townhouse type housing or attached housing. A problem with the city at least when I was looking was a lack of practicle family friendly options that I could afford. Minor changes in taxation arent going to change that.