If you own real estate in Rosthern, you have today and tomorrow to pay your property taxes (or make a partial payment at least) before penalties set in. And if—like me—you think what’s demanded of you by the town administration is too much, you might well point out potholes or some such as evidence that your sacrificial taxes aren’t being spent well.
Tax-payer, tax-collector tension dates back thousands of
years, to whenever the first taxpayer handed over a few shekels to the first
tax collector … at spear-point, probably.
Strikes me there are two main considerations that go into deciding
who and how to tax: 1) services demanded or desired, and 2) fairness in
determining what will be each individual’s share of the cost.
Our age demands all-weather streets and walking routes, fire
fighting, recreation facilities, flowers and lawns in public areas, steady
supply of potable water, reliable and safe removal of sewage and waste, street cleaning, snow clearance, etc. Which of these would any of us give up in order to lower the mill
rate?
The amount we’re taxed needs to pay for the services we
demand. True, we could look back at how these services were delivered and fault
our town with inefficiency and waste, on particulars. Generally, though, complaints
are about a lack in service, not a surplus.
Property Tax is meant to be a progressive tax
like income tax: someone who can afford a $500,000 house on Fifth
Street is assumed to have more means to pay taxes than a family in a two-bedroom
on East Railway. At present, a government adjuster places a value number on
each property, our town sets a mill rate (after setting the budget) and
multiplies the property value by the rate, adds a few surcharges like an
amount to the hospital building fund and, voila, your and my tax obligations.
Frontage Tax used to determine the property tax
amount by the number of feet of sidewalk and street fronting your property, but
that was when municipalities provided almost no services beyond street and
boardwalk maintenance. It wouldn’t work fairly in an age of condos and other
multiple-occupancy dwellings, for instance.
Much older still would be the head tax; each adult
living in the town pays $500, say, the most regressive tax system ever.
There are, of course, other considerations, like the
Education portion of your tax bill. An elderly Rosthernite said to me, “I have
no kids or grandkids in school. Why should I pay an education tax?”
Seems logical, if you don’t consider that the kids in Rosthern will be the town
council sooner than we expect, and a good education should help them be good
council members.
The burst of inflation erupting after Covid and related
changes have meant that many incomes haven’t kept pace with costs. The bind
exists for businesses, service institutions and municipalities as well. If I
had one recommendation to give our council, it would be that they remove the
penalties for budgeting taxes over the length of the year. Instead, offer a 3%
discount for paying the total on July 31, perhaps, but make a kind gesture of
solidarity with those who are struggling.
Happy tax day, everyone!
