2016 property tax increases

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Mine went up $30 a month, so roughly 13%. So in 6 years since owning my house, my property tax went from $1,900 to $3,000. Yay for stupidly high increases. So should I expect another ~60% increase in 6 years? Looking forward to paying ~$5,000 soon! Screw you Nenshi / Notley. You both suck.

While that sounds insane, looks like Calgarians were paying well below normal for property taxes before. $3k is a pretty normal amount

[IliketoPuck]

$132/year ($11/month) increase for me at our house vs. last years assessment, so all in all, not too bad.

But with that said, we moved from a place where we were paying $2,400/year to one where the bill is quite a bit higher last November. So the total increase vs. last years taxes is a kick in the shins.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by Hes

We are now paying $1700 more per year than we were 6yrs ago.

jesus.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

If she can't afford to live there, then yes.

She should sell her house and move out because her property has increased in value and her taxes are getting jacked up during the worst recession since the 80s?

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by polak

if the province raised property tax 10% and the city 4% and my assessment went down than how am I now paying 50% more???

Just the provincial portion went up 10%. Not the whole thing. Other than that, your enemy the mill rate is responsible.

I'm sure the woman on Global didn't buy a 700k house while working three jobs just to pay the tax bill. Renfrew is one of those dumpy neighborhoods that became inner city and desirable about twenty years ago. It's full of people who have lived there since the fifties and suddenly now they have proportionally much greater tax bills than they ever have had in the past. I'm sure given a choice she'd say keep the 700k. I just want to live in the house I grew up in for a manageable tax rate.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by chemgear

This was coming down the pipe a few months ago with the NDP hike. Calgary is already talking about the 2017 hike (3.7 to 4.7%). I'd have to imagine that the NDP are going to hike things again (even higher than this go around) with their massive spending deficit.

We're going to be looking at even higher increases every year for the next few years at the very least.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...f-property-tax

Homeowners facing 'outrageous' increase after NDP raises its portion of property tax

Albertans are getting what they asked for voting in the NDP so it's hard to be overly sympathetic.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by chemgear

This was coming down the pipe a few months ago with the NDP hike. Calgary is already talking about the 2017 hike (3.7 to 4.7%). I'd have to imagine that the NDP are going to hike things again (even higher than this go around) with their massive spending deficit.

We're going to be looking at even higher increases every year for the next few years at the very least.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...f-property-tax

Homeowners facing 'outrageous' increase after NDP raises its portion of property tax

But thats good! We need taxes because the more money we can give our Government the more...I'm sure they'll do something beneficial with it. We wont know what or how well but its good! Give the Government as much as you can!

And while you're not out working and also paying other taxes you should be wading into random fields and gathering wheat! Deposit your harvested wheat upon the steps of City Hall or the Legislature in Edmonton!

Taxes are your friend!

[temple5]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Form the article:

Some homeowners are paying more than 50 per cent over last year, largely because the city collects taxes on behalf of the Alberta government.

“We have to pass it on to tax payers, so the provincial portion of your property tax bill is going up 10 per cent. The municipal portion is only going up by three-and- a-half per cent,” Ward 10 councillor Andre Chabot said.

Dont you just love politicians and their total BS.

"In previous years when we increased the property tax rates ~5% the (different) provincial government declined their portion since the citys where whining about needing more money (most voters dont pay attention to the minute details of property tax but normally a 5% property tax increase means 2.5% to the city and 2.5% to the province).

We could have simply then only raised the taxes 2.5% but we didnt, instead we decided to keep that tax room (in essence a ~10% tax raise (from the citys perspective) and since the average voter isnt that smart and alot dont pay property tax then why would they care about that kind of increase.

Of course we had things to buy, like debt financed recreation centers that we dont need in far flung suburbs (whose user fees dont cover the cost of operation) we shouldnt have built, and 50mil/year for 12ish years to cover the Citys portion of the $500mil Green line which isnt needed south of downtown and will only promote more suburban lifestyle)

Now our province finds itself in difficult financial waters so instead of the City reducing its costs and not raising its portion of the property tax we will simply blame a provincial government (which isnt popular in this city (same argument probably inst being tried in commissar Edmonton)) for retroactively taking their portion for 2ish years in 1 year."

No one comes out looking good in this scenario.

1 - Province shouldnt be able to retroactively go after property taxes, but then again the "Green Energy Levy" which they say inst a new tax shouldnt be a way to re-distribute wealth to lower income.

But then again the whole property tax/school tax system is BS. I do wonder why Nenshi isnt more vocal with this government about the City Charter debate vs the last government. He was very vocal with the Conservative government has been very not vocal with this government.

2 - City should have been more upfront about the true property tax increases in previously years instead of relying on the general apathetic nature of voters to not care or not be smart enough to care.

3 - Media in this City (Herald specifically) should have pushed this issue more when it happened instead of just quickly glossing over it.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by aaronck

I'm going from $222 per month to $300 on my new house- and I think the assessment went down from last year- WTF?

Based on that change in taxes, I would be surprised if your assessed value decreased. You may be misremembering.

The taxes we pay are set on a relative basis, not absolute. Your taxes could go up, even if your assessment went down if your decline was smaller than the average decline across the city. Given housing prices had risen, on average, with the January assessments, I think that your assessment actually increased. Worth checking into though, in case there is an error that you might wish to challenge.

[Regular_John]

Mine up less than 5% on our townhome, an extra $4/month. I think we'll pull through.

[Red]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Albertans are getting what they asked for voting in the NDP so it's hard to be overly sympathetic.

Except this isn't the first year property taxes are going up. Mine have about doubled in the last few years on two houses I lived in. Neither home was upgraded at the time so it was just the typical increases.
Of course now we will add another $80 per year for more bins. And bags that we will have to buy to keep said bins clean.
Yay City Hall !!!

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well unlike the spineless Albertans that voted NDP but don't admit it I can at least say I never asked for this.

As opposed to the brave, brave souls who wanted the status quo and voted for PC, despite rampant corruption?

[polak]

You don't get to be broke and continue pay some of the lowest taxes in the country. That's not how it works.

Blame Saudi Arabia for taking back market share

[rain_e]

Originally Posted by polak

Mine went up from $100 a month to $150 a month! 50% increase!

And the appraisal is lower than what I paid for the place last year...

Which area of the city is this?

[OMG!WTF!]

I wonder how long until we start getting special assessments on tax bills. Obviously cutting something somewhere isn't an option for these guys. And revenues have become increasingly less predictable. Of course it would just be a one time special levy though. But I can see that happening. Especially since property tax is becoming a political issue.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by habernac

You can thank former mayors who didn't raise property taxes for years, now Nenshi's crew needs to raise them just to get back to status quo.

He raises a lot of things

Nenshi's salary circa 2010 $170,000
Nenshi's salary 2016 $218,000

[Jiggyiggy]

Mine was up 16%, which seems like a lot since I live in a condo and the going rate for condos in my area have declined, especially in my building.

Crooks!

[polak]

Originally Posted by rain_e

Which area of the city is this?

Mahogany.

I just moved in Aug '15 so maybe that has something to do with the massive hike?

Talking with my folks they seem to think that my old rate was too low and now it jumped up to even it out? That doesn't sound right to me at all but they say that's what happened to them.

This is my first year paying property taxes so I have no idea what I'm doing or how it works. Really glad school taught me how to calculate trigonometry by hand though.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by habernac

You can thank former mayors who didn't raise property taxes for years, now Nenshi's crew needs to raise them just to get back to status quo.

I'm sure you know that mayors don't control property taxes.

[squiggs96]

“I can’t handle it – it’s soon going to be in a position (where either) I buy …a loaf of bread or I pay my taxes and taxes are not negotiable,” Morris said.

What type of bread is she buying, where they equal her tax payment? If it's even the increased tax amount, that's still some expensive bread. This is why she's struggling to make ends meet, because she's spending $100 on a loaf of bread. She should just buy the $3 bread at Safeway.