Editor:
I got my property tax notice Tuesday.
My taxes have increased 10 per cent from last year.
StatsCan shows the 2016 inflation rate as 1.4 per cent. The services provided to me by the City of Surrey, which my taxes are supposed to pay for, haven’t changed in the year.
Does anyone else think there is something wrong?
Are the elected municipal officials embarrassed by this sort of increase? Do they care?
Have any of them provided a public explanation as to why these sorts of increases are necessary to cover their costs?
Is spending out-of-control? Or, is it simply that governments don’t earn money, they simply collect it and have no need to justify to the taxpayers, or be prudent, about how or what they choose to spend. It’s not their money, so who cares?
Remember it the next time we vote.
Aside from this year egregious increase, I’d note that property tax increases have exceeded Canadian inflation rates – typically double or better – for well over a decade with little explanation by municipal elected officials. This year’s increase is truly mind-boggling.
A.L. Hills, Surrey