More Calgary Tax/Utility Hikes

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
It isn't fair and equal...

People who drive in from out of town use Calgary resources everyday and pay nothing

People who rent or live in their moms basement pay fuck all into the system... and yet are far more likely to be using city subsidized services

People who cram 4 or 5 families into a house and use oodles of water, electricity, drive 10 cars and swamp onto subsidized transit pay the same as a single couple who own a home that could be smaller, but has a higher value.


We should be focusing on how to make everybody pay their fair share instead of dumping onto responsible home owners. My property tax and utility bills are topping 1000$ a month at the moment and I use very little city services, I carpool, and have low usage for utilities.

City tax system is broken

This is just ridiculous. Should RockyView implement a toll booth if you want to go to CrossIron mall? Or Bragg Creek if you're driving through there? I don't know what resources you think they're using and not paying for. Someone who drives in from a bedroom community, pays for a transit pass and takes the train? Or someone who drives in a parks downtown, paying $500/month for parking... what was your property tax again? Everyone who lives here or works here pays in one way or another. Even those families that cram 5 families into a home... guarantee they pay WAY more in utilities than you. Incidentally, your prejudice is shining through....

Oh, and if you're paying $1000/month in utilities/property tax and you're bitching about it? You either need to downsize, or cancel some of those "utilities". I have a family of 4, my property tax is around $200/month, and my Utilities (Gas/Water/Power) average $250/month. My entertainment (Tel/Internet/Cable) is another $250/month... these are luxuries, not utilities.

Interesting Info on where your property Tax Goes, and the City Revenue streams...
http://ocobof.blogspot.ca/2012/05/ci...tures-and.html

[ercchry]

bitches about local taxes, skirts income taxes with a "small business" when in reality he could be an employee

[Sugarphreak]

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[whiteout]

Snow clearing and street cleaning is a area that needs a huge revamp.

I'd say cut it down to Priority 1 and 2 routes, plows and graders do not touch residential roads. If a street was the service, then they can use the same method by which they would have the alley paved. Then they pay the cost through their taxes.

Leave the one pass street cleaning in place. Actually enforce the no parking signs and stop absorbing the cost of towing.

You could also start charging for parking on residential streets. Instead of handing out passes and guest passes for free, charge for them.

[ercchry]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak



To be fair, I became an employee last year

just imagine how much more tax you'd be paying on the island... and how low your income would be... then deep breath... and relax

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


How is this ridiculous?

Somebody who lives just outside of city limits, they come into the city every single work day... drive on roads paid for by us, that were plowed with employees whose wages are paid for by us, take up all of our limited C-Train station parking stalls, then ride a transit system into downtown which is again subsidized by us, where they use and enjoy city water & sewer, parks, power, and other services... and they don't pay for shit. (literally... their shit gets flushed for free too)

As for entertainment, internet and phone, you are right... they are luxuries and that isn't included in my 1000$ a month utilities and taxes I was referring to.

My place is 1800 square feet, we have LED and CFL lighting throughout, we use a plethora of power efficient appliances, and I hardly get my gigantic garbage or recycle bin more than 1/3 full... yet my Enmax and property tax for this month was 1096$.

Ridiculous is a good word to describe this above injustice.
To be fair, I became an employee last year

They drive on roads paid for by Provincial/Federal Taxes.. paid for by all of us. They take up our limited C-Train Stalls because THEY PAY FOR THEM WITH THEIR transit tickets. Just like all the rest of us. They use City services that are paid for by the company they're working for, just like the rest of us who shit in the office.

If you're paying $1000 in utilities and taxes, you're doing it wrong.

If we were to extend your logic, then everyone that's lived in the city for 50 years shouldn't have to pay ANY taxes and you should pay more. After all, you're driving on their roads, if you're driving anywhere within 10k of DT... you're shitting through the infrastructure their taxes paid for... drinking the water from the treatment plant they paid for with their taxes.... YOU should be paying a toll everytime you go to the can, based on Age.. the old people can shit for free. What's next? Tolls to drive in individual neighborhoods? The roads in Country Hills need some repairs. All those assholes in Panorama are commuting across it and fucking it up. We should toll them when they get to the edge of the community so they can pay their fair share... That's why I say your logic is ridiculous.

Isn't it something like 57% of everyone in AB's property taxes are collected, go to the Government, and are redistributed to population centers? And Provincial/federal monies that are collected from everyone are granted back to the city, and spread where they're needed? Think about that the next time you're driving on Stony Trail, and nobody asks you for a Toll to pay back the guy in Manyberries who paid his income taxes in order to build your road...

[flipstah]

So they're spreading the hike throughout the city or is it isolated within the 'flood zone' with them getting the big hike then a gradual regression as you get farther out?

[sputnik]

Originally posted by codetrap
They drive on roads paid for by Provincial/Federal Taxes.. paid for by all of us.

The only provincially/federally funded roads in Calgary are the ring roads and major trails. The majority of the roads in Calgary are paid for and maintained by the city.

Originally posted by codetrap
They take up our limited C-Train Stalls because THEY PAY FOR THEM WITH THEIR transit tickets. Just like all the rest of us.

Transit is subsidized by the City of Calgary. Perhaps Calgary should just charge non-residents a higher fee for using transit and the parking stalls at LRT/BRT stations.

Originally posted by codetrap
They use City services that are paid for by the company they're working for, just like the rest of us who shit in the office.

Adding non-residents essentially requires capacity for people who are not paying taxes to cover the costs of the infrastructure. Sure you might think that it doesn't matter, but in reality the capacity is built for a certain number of people and if only a percentage are tax payers, then it means that residents are paying more so that non Calgarians can enjoy the benefits.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by flipstah
So they're spreading the hike throughout the city or is it isolated within the 'flood zone' with them getting the big hike then a gradual regression as you get farther out?

The hike will hit the mill rate.

I suspect that those in the flood zone will probably try to claim that their houses have dropped in value and their taxes may actually go down while the houses high and dry will cover the difference.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by sputnik
The only provincially/federally funded roads in Calgary are the ring roads and major trails. The majority of the roads in Calgary are paid for and maintained by the city.

How much money every year does the city get from the Province?

Originally posted by sputnik
Transit is subsidized by the City of Calgary. Perhaps Calgary should just charge non-residents a higher fee for using transit and the parking stalls at LRT/BRT stations.

Then what? How are you going to enforce this? What will the net effect be? Less people using transit? It costs exactly the same to run a train to the end of the line regardless of how many people are on it. Same with a bus.. so we're going to start scaling back buses due to lower ridership?

What'll happen to the parking situation downtown if transit for OOT's (out of towners) gets too high? It'll go up, but the parking companies won't care where you're from. They'll just jack the prices. And if we start charging a toll for Memorial Drive, and not Deerfoot, or ?Crowchild? What happens to all the businesses when traffic drops off from OOTs? Who's going to cover their loss of revenue? Will Calgarians start getting charged to go to CrossIron? Effectively turning it into a ghost town? The entire idea is stupid, and quite honestly, discriminatory.

Originally posted by sputnik
Adding non-residents essentially requires capacity for people who are not paying taxes to cover the costs of the infrastructure. Sure you might think that it doesn't matter, but in reality the capacity is built for a certain number of people and if only a percentage are tax payers, then it means that residents are paying more so that non Calgarians can enjoy the benefits.

Businesses pay property taxes too. I have a co-worker who commutes from Airdrie. He regularly buys his bus passes, fuel, lunches, groceries on the way home.. all in Calgary. Drive enough people like him out of town with stupid user fees, then you'll start to drive businesses away as well. Just because they're not pony'ing up for property taxes to cover street cleaning and local residential services doesn't mean that it makes sense to start charging them a toll when they exit the deerfoot.

[ercchry]

congestion zone just like London... but without discounts to "green vehicles"... instead discounts to those that have a car registered to a residence within the zone

[Sugarphreak]

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[max_boost]

Sugarphreak, just bend over, take it, and get use to it (enjoying it is optional) lol

[whiteout]

Originally posted by sputnik


The hike will hit the mill rate.

I suspect that those in the flood zone will probably try to claim that their houses have dropped in value and their taxes may actually go down while the houses high and dry will cover the difference.

Easy enough to solve. Don't allow the lower valuation and tell the homeowners it's the cost of doing business since they chose to live in a flood plain.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


sputnik covered most of the points about outside users

As for my utilities and taxes; all I did was buy reasonablely sized home, with a big yard in nice neighbourhood... guilty as charged. Apparently this is grounds for upping my fees and taxing me into the ground, despite the reality that my footprint on Calgary services is much smaller than most.

It doesn't even start to address the issue of people that overcrowd residences with multiple families, or those who rent out basements... they have far more people wihtin in the household that each use roughy the same amount of water, sewer and transit as anybody else... and yet pay far less tax per person.

Should be something like a flat tax of about 2000$ and then an additional 500$ per bedroom. So a 2 bedroom house should pay 3000$ a year, while a 4 bedroom house with a 2 bedroom suite should pay 5000$ per year.

Simple, fair, catches the true cost per person rather than just punishing anybody who wants to spend the extra money on a home in a nice area of town.

Well.. apparently your home with a big yard came with a price tag you don't like. So you have two choices really. Lube up, or move. As for the "overcrowded residence".. the ONLY thing they're paying less for per person is property tax. They're going to use X amount of utilities per person over the baseline for the home. If you don't think more people use more utilities, have some houseguests for awhile. We had people staying with us during the flood last year, and it DOUBLED my utility bill. Gas/Water/Power. All went up a lot, because more people use more water, more gas to heat water, more electricity, everything. So, really, the part of your comment I bolded, well, it's just wrong.

In fact, it could be argued that a single family home being used as a multifamily residence is more efficient. You have more taxpayers under the same roof paying more income tax, spending more money on groceries, distributing more wealth....

In reality, all you're really trying to do is tax poor people, so you can pay less to live in your apparently too expensive home.

So, just out of curiosity, is it really the property tax you have a problem with, or them "dirty immigrants packing 5 families into a house" in your nice neighborhood, then "swarming" onto the c-trains, and collecting social assistance?

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Should be something like a flat tax of about 2000$ and then an additional 500$ per bedroom. So a 2 bedroom house should pay 3000$ a year, while a 4 bedroom house with a 2 bedroom suite should pay 5000$ per year.

It should really be based on frontage/density.

One house on a 50 ft lot requires basically the same amount of city services as 2 houses on two 25 foot lots.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by sputnik
It should really be based on frontage/density.

One house on a 50 ft lot requires basically the same amount of city services as 2 houses on two 25 foot lots.

How do you figure?

[Sugarphreak]

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[whiteout]

Saying that packing 5 families into one house would decrease home values would probably be pretty true. Especially in a nicer area where the front of most houses don't look like car lots or a taxi stand.

[HiTempguy1]

I still don't understand this. MORE taxpayers (more people moving into the city) should mean MORE money, especially if the density of Calgary is going up (which it is).

Somebody is lying about where the money is going, it's a bullshit system that the politicians have set up to grab as much cash as possible from the citizens. How have they managed for YEARS to run the city, but need 5% yearly increases (WAY above inflation) to provide services?