Calgary city council is debating shifting more of the property tax base to homeowners, while at the same time lowering nonresidential property taxes..The current equation sees homeowners paying 52% of property taxes collected by the city, with non-residential taxpayers picking up the balance of 48%. Calgary doesn’t have a business tax, so the non-residential tax is how the majority of businesses add to the coffers..Councillors have been given three recommendations for their deliberations:.1. Change the residential/non-residential property tax shares by selecting one of the property tax options: Option A: maintain the status quo tax of 52% residential and 48% non-residential. Option B: Change the share of taxes to 53% residential and 47%. Option C: Change tax responsibility to achieve a 54% residential and 46% non-residential. .2. If Option B or C is selected and the 2023 provincial requisition is less than $782 million from 2022, the difference up to the amount required, to provide a one-time inflationary relief rebate to residential property owners to offset the impacts of the change in tax responsibility, will be added to the municipal tax amount. The additional municipal tax amount will not be considered in the calculation of tax share. .City literature says “there may be an opportunity to provide a one-time inflationary relief rebate” not that it “will.”.3. Direct city administration to continue federal and provincial advocacy for long-term, sustainable, operational funding and/or funding tools and return to Council with recommended budget adjustments if new or greatly expanded revenue streams to support operational expenses for The City is advanced in the next federal or provincial budgets..According to the city, a 1% shift to residential would add $48 per year to the average residential home with an assessed value of $555,000. A 2% shift adds $96 per year..On the non-residential side, a property valued at $5.1 million would see a decrease of $1,959 with a 1% shift and a decrease of $3,917 with a 2% shift..The debate was originally scheduled for last November and moved to this week so property owners could first see their new tax assessment, which they received last month..Coun. Sonya Sharp said she has heard from residents who have received their assessments saying they cannot afford to pay more because of out-of-control inflation and much larger mortgage payments due to Bank of Canada rate increases..“The distribution of tax responsibility between residential and non-residential taxpayers is a values-based decision that must be made by Council,” says the city..Council is under pressure to set the rate in order to produce of tax bills, which are scheduled to be mailed on May 25 & 26..It’s not clear if council will make the tax shift decision this week, or put it off a bit longer, but the budget finalization must be completed by the end of March, so bills can be mailed to roughly 550,000 addresses..“There may be a motion to defer it to the next council, but we need to have a responsible conversation about what the shift would do with the huge concerns we’re hearing about affordability and the costs of everything going up,” says Sharp..Almost all property taxpayers have seen dramatic increases on their tax bills over the last decade, as the tax ‘pot-of-gold' - the downtown core – has seen the values of the once-packed-with-workers office towers drop significantly, shifting the tax burden to outside the core..Sharp also asked for a report on the city’s current reserve funds, in case relief can be found there. That report is still pending.
