Change the property tax system
The cover page of the Wednesday, Jan. 15 paper is an unnamed advertisement encouraging property owners around the dump sites near Shawnigan Lake to appeal their property assessments. If the impacts as described can be shown, then certainly the tax system needs to react accordingly.
However let’s not fool ourselves into thinking this will be of any consequence to local or provincial government. Reducing values and the corresponding tax payable will be offset by raising taxes for everyone else. It is always the taxpayer who gets dinged.
I have never liked the property tax system because it collects unrealized revenue from a property based on an assumed value. The only way to determine the actual value of property is to sell it. A system that collects tax based on that value and the length of ownership, and in the meantime leaves annual income in our pocket, may be far more equitable.
Gary Robinson
Duncan
