Raise the Hammer

"Great, if communities can bring in 'pretty uniform' tax revenue per property using varying tax rates, then there is no reason not to cut them?"

You're still assuming causality, duh.

"So now you're not sure what you think."

No, I'm pointing out that whenever you see a correlation, you have to consider ALL the possibilities. You just grabbed the one possibility that helps your case and ASSUMED it must be the correct explanation without bothering to do any work to prove it.

"Then why do you find it necessary to throw around insults."

Mainly b/c you're an idiot.

"Nor have you proved that lowering tax rates would reduce tax revenue?"

See, this is the "you're an idiot" part. This year, let's say the city takes in a billion dollars at current tax rates. Then let's say they decide to cut rates by a third. Immediately, the city's tax revenue will go down by a third, and the city will have to cancel a third of it's spending since cities aren't allowed to run deficits.

Over the long run it's not clear what will happen. Over the short run it would be an unmitigated disaster for Hamilton.

"Therefore, if the numbers we actually do have, indicate that lower tax rates have limited effect on revenue, there is no rational reason not to start reducing them."

The numbers we actually do have DO NOT indicate this.

"If Hamilton has higher tax rates, according to your reasoning, this should mean the city gets more revenue, not less."

c.f. my earlier comment about you being an idiot. Properties in Hamilton are WORTH LESS than equivalent properties in Toronto. That means the city gets LESS REVENUE even with higher tax rates. It may well be why the city has to charge higher tax rates in the first place, and not the opposite as you insist.

"Notice how I didn't say anything about current low property values attracting new buyers. The reason I didn't say this is because the market has already discounted the overall costs of living in Hamilton, which is why property values are as low as they are."

You clearly stated that when you make it cheaper for people, they invest more. Your argument about tax rates is a FUNCTION of this thesis, i.e. cutting tax rates is a way to make it cheaper for people to invest.

The whole point of my opposition to your point (and I assume JonC's as well, and anyone else still reading this with half a brain) is that IT'S ALREADY CHEAPER IN HAMILTON BUT PEOPLE STILL AREN'T RUSHING HERE IN DROVES.

To say there's some voodoo power about tax RATES as opposed to the actual number of dollars coming out of your bank account is just wacked out.

"However, if the city reduced the TAX RATE on properties, this would affect the underlying value."

Yeah, so you keep saying. Try proving it with something more than a loose correlation.

"For example, on a $200,000 mortgage, you pay $3,300 in taxes if you live in Hamilton, but in Burlington, you only pay $2,200."

Yeah, but a house that costs $200,000 in Hamilton costs $300,000 in Burlington, so you pay about the same tax. You know, dollars coming out of your bank account, what you actually pay.

"Which is it, are high tax rates better at producing revenue for the city or are low tax rates?"

You do realized that you're the ONLY ONE HERE insisting that doing something with tax rates is how to produce revenue for the city. Meanwhile, real people choose to live in this place or that based on lots of considerations, like how far it is from their job, what the commute is like, what the schools are like, what the amenities are like, local parks and green space, perceptions of safety, competency of local government, yadda yadda yadda. The price of the property tax is only one very small part of that whole, a part that you're FRIGGIN' OBSESSED with and the rest of us are trying to point out is not the real issue why Hamilton is languishing compared to Oakville and Mississauga.

You know what, forget it, you're too far gone to penetrate any sense at all into. Go ahead and live in your low tax rate bubble, I don't care any more, you're not worth any more of my time, I'm sorry I even bothered to go this far.