Comment 112136

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted June 09, 2015 at 16:01:05 in reply to Comment 112134

The mill rate is relatively high, but property values are relatively low. For a business, property tax is a relatively small portion of costs compared to renting or buying, which are both much cheaper in Hamilton than Toronto (for example). And if property values increased and more land was developed in the urban core the mill rate would decrease proportionally.

Niagara region compares its taxes to other areas in terms of actual dollars for properties of the same assessed value. You'll see that Hamilton, although high for "bungalows" is within 15% of the cheapest municipality for bungalows and right in the middle for executive houses.

https://www.niagararegion.ca/government/...

The $800 difference from most expensive (Oshawa) to cheapest (Niagara) might sound like a lot, but it is a tiny fraction of the overall taxes paid by a family (about $15000). And, again, it is fairer to compare taxes on similar houses if you are concerned about standard of living and housing prices vary a lot (inversely to mill rate).

A parking lot generates (quite a lot) of income to the owner for minimal investment and operating costs. A vacant lot generates nothing, but is a cheap way of holding land until property prices rise (because of investments made by others).

The tax codes are used all the time to try to reward desirable behaviour and discourage undesirable behaviour. They are also used to reward certain groups for less clear reasons (e.g. the much higher taxes on income from labour than on income from capital in Canada).

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2015-06-09 16:02:54

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