Brantford Municipal Taxes
I see that The Expositor is going to have a new series that addresses questions about Brantford and will attempt to verify if they are fact or myth. One of the examples used is whether Brantford has the highest municipal taxes in Ontario. Well I can tell you this is no myth. Brantford's municipal taxes may not be the absolute highest but they are right up there near the top.
It is hard to make direct comparisons because identical houses in other cities have different assessments but if you look for a comparable property in another city even if it has a much higher assessment you will find that its municipal taxes are much lower. This is true for such cities as Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener.
Even in the surrounding County of Brant taxes on average are a whopping 50% less than for a comparable house in the city. This is why properties in the proposed annexation area will have a phase in period to get their taxes up to city levels. But all this does is place an even greater burden on current city taxpayers because the new areas will have to be provided with city services such as fire and police protection, snow clearing etc. but the extra costs will not be borne by those new residents but by the current ones. How fair is that?
It's time that the city got out of providing windfall bonuses to developers, making the municipal taxpayer pay for the university (a provincial responsibility) and pouring money into the downtown and actually thought about the onerous tax burden they are saddling their citizens with.
It is hard to make direct comparisons because identical houses in other cities have different assessments but if you look for a comparable property in another city even if it has a much higher assessment you will find that its municipal taxes are much lower. This is true for such cities as Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener.
Even in the surrounding County of Brant taxes on average are a whopping 50% less than for a comparable house in the city. This is why properties in the proposed annexation area will have a phase in period to get their taxes up to city levels. But all this does is place an even greater burden on current city taxpayers because the new areas will have to be provided with city services such as fire and police protection, snow clearing etc. but the extra costs will not be borne by those new residents but by the current ones. How fair is that?
It's time that the city got out of providing windfall bonuses to developers, making the municipal taxpayer pay for the university (a provincial responsibility) and pouring money into the downtown and actually thought about the onerous tax burden they are saddling their citizens with.
posted by The Grouchy Old Man at 2:55 PM
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