CITY TAXES ARE GOING UP, THE END OF THE WORLD MUST BE AT HAND

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CITY TAXES ARE GOING UP, THE END OF THE WORLD MUST BE AT HAND

Posted on 22 November 2009 by Markham Hislop.

By Markham Hislop, Editor

There are all kinds of silly seasons when it comes to politics and one of Calgary’s is set to begin now that we are talking about the municipal budget again. City budgets always bring up the issue of taxes, which in this town cannot be discussed rationally. No, when it comes to taxes our politicians suddenly become idiots, the bureaucrats are sinister plotters and life as we know it is about to end. Cue the Apocalypse, please.

May I state the obvious? Calgary property taxes are quite reasonable. Seriously. Is that traffic noise from the Deerfoot or the thundering of the Four Horsemen?

Last year I examined two reports that back me up. The City of Edmonton released its annual survey of municipal property taxes and, lo and behold, Calgary was right at the bottom of the list, along with our neighbors to the north. And just to drive home the point, a Canada West Foundation report arguing that not only did Calgary have low taxes, but as a percentage of disposble income, property tax had fallen from 3.454 per cent in 1990 to only 2.609 per cent in 2007.

I even called the tax departments of Saskatoon and Regina and asked them what I would pay on my Calgary residence were it magically transported east. The answer was 80 to 90 per cent more.

That sure left me scratching my head. Where do people get off complaining about Calgary municipal taxes (aside from the initially very large increase that was floated by City Hall this time last year, then whittled down to something more palatable by Council)?

As it turns out, the situation isn’t quite as rosy as it seems.

First, we may pay less tax than Eastern cities, but residents there receive more services for their tax dollar. In Calgary we charge higher user-fees and more of them. So it’s not quite an oranges to oranges comparison.

Second, our municipal business taxes are quite high. This point was made ad nauseum by Danielle Smith when she was still employed the the Canadian Federation of Indpendent Business. From the business point of view, Calgary subsidizes its low property taxes by gouging its (until recently) prosperous business community. We can get away with this as long as the economy is red hot, but if oil and gas stay soft for any length of time, business taxes may rear their ugly head again.

Even considering these caveats, in my opinion, from the reports I’ve read and the evidence I’ve gathered, Calgarians pay reasonable taxes and receive pretty good value for them.

This is not to say we can’t do better. I like Ald. Ric McIver’s proposal for the City to move to a more accountable form of budgeting, one that focuses on efficiencies and the getting the best bang for the buck. Value for money is a good thing and I would like to ensure that as a taxpayer I am getting it.

But I don’t think the City of Calgary is going to hell in a hand basket. Calgarians are generally happy with the services their municipal government provides, at least if we believe the surveys conducted by City Hall.

And don’t let anyone tell you, as a Calgary Sun columnist tried to in his column today, that the City can cut its workforce by 10 per cent and somehow the work will still get done. Well, maybe for a little while, until employees are stressed out and can’t cope with the extra workload and service deteriorates – which is what happens in the private sector when businesses try that strategy.

And don’t buy the baloney that Calgary’s local government needs return to the basics – sewer, water, roads and safety. (oh, I forgot that hockey arenas were also a “basic need” for the Sun columnist). The basics might have been fine a hundred plus years ago when Calgary was a small town, but we are now a city of a million and striving to take our place on the national, and international, stage. Cosmopolitan cities deliver a wide and excellent set of goods and services to their residents, that’s what makes them great.

Yes, I think Calgary can do better. And if we’re going to squeeze greater efficiencies out of our municipal government, let’s it do it with smart management techniques and innovative thinking. Ald. McIver’s zero-based budgeting proposal is a place to start, something to consider and discuss, especially since we’re officially into the run up to the next election.

But, please, can we stop with the silly rhetoric that makes Calgary sound like a third-rate Soviet run by hillybilly apparatchiks?

Calgary taxes are reasonable, the services Calgarians receive from their municipality are quite good as a rule, and the end of the world is not nigh. Not even if our taxes do go up 4.8 per cent.