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By A Smith (anonymous) | Posted March 25, 2009 at 18:23:25
Steel >> People who know how to think recognize that property values get steadily higher the closer you get to downtown Toronto, so the real situation is that closeness to downtown Toronto is what causes higher property values and cities just charge whatever rate will earn them enough money to run a city.
Barrie, Ontario is 67 minutes in driving time away from Toronto, here are their tax rates (2008)...Residential - 1.36%, Commercial - 3.32%, Industrial - 3.3%.
Collingwood, Ontario is 110 minutes from Toronto and they charge R-1.28%, C-2.86%, I-4.02%.
Burlington, our next door neighbour. is 42 minutes away from Toronto and their rates are R - 1.07% C - 2.55%, I - 3.82%.
Hamilton, which is 49 minutes away from Toronto, has these rates, R -1.65%, C - 4.57%, I - 6.44%.
If distance from Toronto is the determining factor in determining tax rates, then why doesn't this theory apply to Collingwood or Barrie. Furthermore, does an additional 7 minutes of driving time really explain why Hamilton's residential tax rate is 54% higher than Burlington's, , or why our industrial rate is 69% higher., or even better, why our commercial tax rate is 79% higher?
Perhaps there is a point at which tax rates become too low, but seeing that Hamilton currently has the highest tax rates around, we have a long way to go before that happens. Even at first, if we just brought our rates close to Burlington levels, I can't imagine why the city would have a problem managing it's budget. Something like R - 1.15%, C - 2.82%, I - 4.15%. All rates would still be higher than Burlington, to account for the "closeness factor" (assuming it even exists), but not unreasonably higher.
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