Cranbrook Taxation continued: A previous writer states that I confuse taxes with tax rates and they further provides statistics available on a Ministry website and in particular refers to schedule 704 which is an excellent piece of research, however the writer points out that Cranbrook is in the middle of the pack for residential municipal taxes which is a leading statement and not correct when you analyze the specific data table of General municipal totals. The facts we provided were the municipal tax rate only and upon viewing the statistical source that the writer points out, his comparison is the Total Residential Property Taxes & Charges. The writer further made a key point that assessed values for taxation fluctuate from community to community , which is correct. To a taxpayer of course the final bill is the most important aspect. I have extracted the data table below from the same source of information the writer points out. However, the primary difference is I only report the data table that reflects the general municipal portion. This is the portion the City receives as revenue from your property tax bill and excludes the other rates including Hospital, school and others that summarize the Total Residential Property Taxes & Charges. This data table also considers the representative house price in each of the 9 municipalities in our population category to compare an apples to apples tax bill within these 9 municipalities. Let’s see how competitive we are City Representative House Price General Municipal Total White Rock $890,514 $3,276 Pitt Meadows $457,596 $1,835 Cranbrook $249,014 $1,830 Port Alberni $187,064 $1,705 Ft St John $324,890 $1,686 Colwood $463,267 $1,618 Dawson Creek $245,512 $1,567 Salmon Arm $280,357 $1,378 Courtenay $297,068 $1,202 Williams Lake $198,354 $1,166 Cranbrook is close to 2nd place with Pitt Meadows for the highest tax bill for general municipal portion. Whiterock is the highest but then there representative house price is nearly 3.5 times higher than Cranbrook. So again, not in the middle of the pack as previously indicated by other letter writers. The larger question we should all be asking is, why does Williams Lake and Courtenay BC collect general municipal portion of taxes nearly 35% less than Cranbrook. Rather than downplay, defend or attempt to discredit the facts about Cranbrook taxation, let’s have an honest discussion on how Cranbrook can become competitive in its tax structure to attract investment, business and residents. To the published critics of our original letter please let’s work together to come up with solutions rather than debate in the media. I welcome the opportunity to have a good dialogue in a meeting with you to discuss taxation. We all have something in common, the community’s best interest at heart.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:16:21 +0000
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