2018 Property Tax

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Taxes should be dropping if they are linked to housing prices. All across the board.

I’d wager to say outside of renovated places there isn’t a property in Calgary worth more this year than last. Next year and year after will be even worse. We are going to see a 5-10% correction on housing values I bet.

But the city has been undertaxing homes and property taxes for a long time now and shifted the burden too much to commercial. Now that we have decided to make it near impossible to run a business and businesses are going bankrupt or folding as the risk / reward ratio makes no sense, the city needs to maintain its tax revenue.

Thus, your property taxes are going up, and will next year and the year after that- probably fairly significantly, regardless of your home value which is dropping.

You can all thank the government of Canada, Alberta and BC for this mess.

They aren't linked to housing prices, they are linked to housing evaluations the mill rate, and the city property tax budget.

If the city raises property taxes, it doesn't matter if the price or assessment of every house in the city drops, on average everyone's taxes are still going to go up.

[PsYcNeT]

I've always wondered about the assessments. Like, I know property value has more to do with area/lot size/location/trends in the neighborhood etc. but it's also generally in the same estimate of the "sell" value of the home.

I've done a boatload of renos over the last 4-5 years, with proper permitting and such (so the city is aware, though not the scope of finish etc.) so I wonder if that factors into the assessments, since my home, for example, is about 10-15% smaller than most on my block, but is valued as high or higher in some instances based on the property search this year.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I think the city also has a spending problem. They spent like drunken sailors and have yet to reign that back with the new economic reality of the city.

Nenshi? I spending problem? Naw . . .

"But that 1000% RETURN ON INVESTMENT!!" /s

When somebody is willing to peddle such an obvious ridiculous statement like the one above, you know reasonable economic calculations aren't a possibility.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

They aren't linked to housing prices, they are linked to housing evaluations the mill rate, and the city property tax budget.

If the city raises property taxes, it doesn't matter if the price or assessment of every house in the city drops, on average everyone's taxes are still going to go up.

It's surprising how many people still don't know how this works. At the end of the day, the city has a property tax amount they want to collect from it's residents. Your house price just determines what portion you will pay relative to your neighbours, and your mill rate determines how much your area pays compared to other areas.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

It's surprising how many people still don't know how this works. At the end of the day, the city has a property tax amount they want to collect from it's residents. Your house price just determines what portion you will pay relative to your neighbours, and your mill rate determines how much your area pays compared to other areas.

I thought I understood this and had a pretty good handle, but I have to say that I obviously don't get it at this point. Clearly, from my prior posts here, I'm a little unhappy with this current scenario and biased. But it seems like our property tax system needs to be overhauled and updated.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

It's surprising how many people still don't know how this works. At the end of the day, the city has a property tax amount they want to collect from it's residents. Your house price just determines what portion you will pay relative to your neighbours, and your mill rate determines how much your area pays compared to other areas.

The mill rate is the same all over the city. The only variable is house price.




https://www.calgary.ca/cfod/finance/...lculation.aspx

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The mill rate was the same all over the city. The only variable is house price.




https://www.calgary.ca/cfod/finance/...lculation.aspx

Huh, I didnt' know that. For some reason, I thought mill rates could differ between neighborhoods.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Mine went up about $13 per instalment. I guess that's not too terrible.

If the assessed value of my house were its actual value, it would have increased 13.2% since I bought it in 2017. I don't know what the relationship between assessed value and market value really is, though.

[CroFlames]

Mine is up 4%. Not thrilled about that.

Was hoping for a decrease given the downturn in house prices.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Mine is up 4%. Not thrilled about that.

Was hoping for a decrease given the downturn in house prices.

I don't get that logic...everyone's house prices went down which means the mill rate goes up. It's simple. The city needs say $5 billion for the budget(made up number). They set the mill rate at whatever they need to get that. Your property has no bearing on it at all, other than the proportion you pay versus others.

Your only hope is to find a way to devalue the houses that sell in your neighbourhood more than the loss in value of sales in other neighbourhoods. Then when the assessment happens, your home is compared to those that sold near you.

And inflation is 2%, and the city has their own inflation numbers they use, so 4% increase is in reality a 2% increase over inflation.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Mine went up about $13 per instalment. I guess that's not too terrible.

If the assessed value of my house were its actual value, it would have increased 13.2% since I bought it in 2017. I don't know what the relationship between assessed value and market value really is, though.

I assume there is a closer relation in the inner city, and more variance the further out of the core you are.

[crazy_eoj]

Keep in mind that Calgary has the highest variance between business property tax and residential property tax of anywhere in Canada.... businesses pay about 4 times what homeowners do.

To fill the budget gap you can expect your residential property taxes to at least double in the next few years. Thanks Nenshi.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Huh, I didnt' know that. For some reason, I thought mill rates could differ between neighborhoods.

Everybody pays the same rate. Taxation starts on the first dollar of the value of the property. No one that owns property is exempt.

It is the most regressive tax that Calgarians pay. And yet there's people that still think their house in the inner city somehow subsidizes everywhere else.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Everybody pays the same rate. Taxation starts on the first dollar of the value of the property. No one that owns property is exempt.

It is the most regressive tax that Calgarians pay. And yet there's people that still think their house in the inner city somehow subsidizes everywhere else.

I don't live in the inner city, so take that FWIW. But how do the higher value owners not subsidize the lower value owners in general? Everyone gets the same service, right? So for some people that service costs more than another person. Sometimes houses on the same block, directly beside each other are paying completely different amounts for literally the exact same thing. I guess it's semantics, but that sure seems like some people are subsidizing others?

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Mine went up about $13 per instalment. I guess that's not too terrible.

If the assessed value of my house were its actual value, it would have increased 13.2% since I bought it in 2017. I don't know what the relationship between assessed value and market value really is, though.

I think it might be that your assessed value is not current. I think it reflects the value at a certain time last year. At any rate they do seem to lag current values, especially when the market is moving quickly.

[WhiteTiger]

Mine went up $9/installment. >.<

[stampsx2]

The black bin? Ya that’s like $5/month so who cares they say
Oh the green bin? That’s like $5/month so stop complaining.
The carbon tax? That’s only $25/month, not a big deal.
Water rate increase? That’s only an extra $10/month.
Property tax? An extra $20/month so whatever.

And it goes on.

[calgaryrocks]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I don't get that logic...everyone's house prices went down which means the mill rate goes up. It's simple. The city needs say $5 billion for the budget(made up number). They set the mill rate at whatever they need to get that. Your property has no bearing on it at all, other than the proportion you pay versus others.

Your only hope is to find a way to devalue the houses that sell in your neighbourhood more than the loss in value of sales in other neighbourhoods. Then when the assessment happens, your home is compared to those that sold near you.

And inflation is 2%, and the city has their own inflation numbers they use, so 4% increase is in reality a 2% increase over inflation.

this is a good point, The City doesn't have any mechanism other than taxes to adjust for inflation, and don't forget part of the budget is for capital, and a big chunk goes to the province (buh bye).

Compare this to provincial or federal tax. we pay multitudes more in these tax dollars, it gets inflated by our own increases in earnings naturally (so people don't get to complain every year about the 'increase') and the federal dollars seemingly disappear.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't live in the inner city, so take that FWIW. But how do the higher value owners not subsidize the lower value owners in general? Everyone gets the same service, right?

I don't think they do; the three biggest City expenditures are policing, transit and fire. New neighborhoods don't have much transit services (even the Green Line's billions of dollars in new spending will primarily help the inner city in the medium term), and the inner city are much better covered by police and fire stations. The City's crime and fire maps also show that the inner city typically has higher per-capita incidents that require fire or police response (ie the Beltline with roughly the same population as Panorama Hills has 9059 crime incidents vs 795).

[burn_this_city]

Hard not to think the public sector in the city and province will be hit hard in the next few years. There's not enough money flowing around the economy to support the taxation rates, especially on small and medium sized businesses. Even if you shift the burden to homeowners there will be less disposable income to spend. I don't envy council or the province that will need to fight the unions for reductions in staff costs. Everything was so distorted during the 2005-2014 boom that it will take a decade to fix the cost structure.