Comment 36757

By A Smith (anonymous) | Posted January 04, 2010 at 22:04:18

JonC >> The system we have today is actually one of the wealthy pricing the poor out of their neighbourhoods wherein land value is determined not by average home upkeep but by the average paycheque.

And under this new tax system, this would not happen, because taxes would not rise simply because the neighbourhood became more popular. Therefore, a poor neighbourhood could invest time and effort into their homes and if they went up in value, they would still pay the same level of taxes as they did before, one based on the size of their property.

Furthermore, there would also need to be adjustments made for agricultural properties, since these would not have the same level of infrastructure that residential areas do.

JonC >> "Overall, switching to a straight square footage system would do is penalize those living in currently less desirable neighbourhoods and reward those living in", and apparently I didn't finish my thought, 'more desirable neighbourhoods'.

According to the MLS, a home in Westdale that has a lot size of 3,778 sq ft and 3,000 sq.ft interior is priced at $389,000. A home downtown has 1000 sq.ft of interior space and a lot size of 1082 sq.ft. It's priced at $114,500. Therefore, the Westdale home is priced at $57.4/sq.ft whereas the downtown home is priced at $55.0 sq.ft. In fact, they already pay the same amount of taxes per sq.foot.

It gets interesting when we look at Ancaster. According to the MLS, a home there with a lot size of 17,980 sq.ft lot and 2,900 sq.ft interior space is worth $689,000. The price per sq.ft works out to $33/sq.ft. Under the new tax system, this house would see it's tax bill jump by two thirds, from approximately $10,000 to $16,500. Therefore, it would appear that the people who would see the greatest jumps in their tax bills would not be the poor, but those who own the big homes on big lots.

Jason, under the new tax system, people would be taxed based on the size of their property. In the case of Waterdown, according to the MLS, there is a home there that is up for sale for $509k. This home has a lot size of 8,478 sq.ft and 2,400 sq.ft. This works out to $46.8/sq.ft. Under the new tax system, this house would need to see it's tax bill increase by 20% to match the level of homes downtown.

If this system was in place today, most downtown homes would likely see their tax bills decrease.

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