What’s missed entirely is the fact that home values in Vancouver are 2x - 5x of homes elsewhere in the country so on that basis of course the rate is going to be much lower but gross $ on each property is still close to the same. I wonder when the rates are from too because we pay more than the rate in the table.
I'm not sure you're right about this. The average price of a home in Guelph is $.76 million, whereas the average price of a home in Vancouver is $1.2 million. According the numbers Russil provided, the property taxes for a $1.0 million home are $2,780 in Vancouver and $11,700 in Guelph. It seems to me that Vancouver residents pay a LOT less in property taxes than Guelph----and Guelph isn't the highest taxed municipality in Ontario, it's more towards the middle.
This is a real political 'tar baby'. Like the old story of the guy who looked for his lost car keys under the light instead of where he'd actually lost them, so too people get fixated on property taxes because the municipal govt tends to itemize them in ways that all other costs aren't. I don't know how many arguments I've seen on line where someone complained bitterly about how taxes are sending him to the poor house only to find out that they were paying enormous amounts in mortgage interest, or heating, or driving, or something else. It's like a cost coming from the private sector is a force of nature like rain or snow, whereas taxes are the only part of the economy that humanity has any control over.
It's ironic that paying income tax (considerably larger) is less painful, because it's automatically deducted from your paycheque. At the end of the year it's pretty common to get a refund, even. Getting an annual property tax bill is much more painful, simply because you're paying the whole thing at once.
What’s missed entirely is the fact that home values in Vancouver are 2x - 5x of homes elsewhere in the country so on that basis of course the rate is going to be much lower but gross $ on each property is still close to the same. I wonder when the rates are from too because we pay more than the rate in the table.
I'm not sure you're right about this. The average price of a home in Guelph is $.76 million, whereas the average price of a home in Vancouver is $1.2 million. According the numbers Russil provided, the property taxes for a $1.0 million home are $2,780 in Vancouver and $11,700 in Guelph. It seems to me that Vancouver residents pay a LOT less in property taxes than Guelph----and Guelph isn't the highest taxed municipality in Ontario, it's more towards the middle.
This is a real political 'tar baby'. Like the old story of the guy who looked for his lost car keys under the light instead of where he'd actually lost them, so too people get fixated on property taxes because the municipal govt tends to itemize them in ways that all other costs aren't. I don't know how many arguments I've seen on line where someone complained bitterly about how taxes are sending him to the poor house only to find out that they were paying enormous amounts in mortgage interest, or heating, or driving, or something else. It's like a cost coming from the private sector is a force of nature like rain or snow, whereas taxes are the only part of the economy that humanity has any control over.
It's ironic that paying income tax (considerably larger) is less painful, because it's automatically deducted from your paycheque. At the end of the year it's pretty common to get a refund, even. Getting an annual property tax bill is much more painful, simply because you're paying the whole thing at once.