The second report from the Altus Group on comparisons of property tax rates – this time just among Metro Vancouver municipalities:
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2014 Property Tax Rate Comparison Report
A deeper analysis into local tax rates across the Lower Mainland.
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Commercial rates (Vancouver is fourth from left)
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Residential rates (Vancouver is second from left):
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Altus notes the qualifier picked up in the comments on the first post:
From a residential assessment standpoint, West Vancouver, Vancouver and Richmond preserve the lowest property taxes per $1000 of residential assessment, while Delta, New Westminster and Abbotsford have the highest. These municipalities also enjoy the highest residential assessed values. This means, in order to balance the municipal budget, a lower tax rate is needed on much larger taxing base.
Large tax bases and the highest assessed property values allowed Vancouver to decrease residential tax rates for the sixth consecutive year. In contrast, the overall residential rates increased by an average of 2.1% across the Lower Mainland.
You’d think there would be a chart that shows in actual dollars the property taxes for a median- or average-valued house in Vancouver and other cities. Anyone?
The things that property taxes pay for (local roads, police, parks, libraries, garbage, etc.) don’t get more expensive (or not much) just because land values are high. So it’s entirely unsurprising that areas with expensive real estate have the lowest rates. You’re right that we need the actual tax dollars paid.
Also it would be a mistake to say that vancouverites are richer overall because their homes are more valuable. To some extent, they just spend more of their income on housing, and less on other things (e.g. commuting).
NWIMBY (Patrick Johnstone) addressed this issue in his usual, thorough manner last year: http://www.nwimby.blogspot.ca/2013/01/on-assessments-and-mil-rates.html
Thanks for the shout-out Ed. I think this follow-up post hits the specific question better about how comparisons of “typical” residential properties between Munis impact the “typical” tax bill:
http://nwimby.blogspot.ca/2013/01/what-is-mil-worth.html
The titles and the footnotes of the two images appear to have been swapped. The chart of commercial tax rates mentions the residential tax rate in the footnote, and vice versa. Do the actual charts fit the titles, or the footnotes explaining how they were calculated?
I I think the data points that would be most interesting for comparison would be property taxes as a percentage of income. Obviously, there’s going to be high variance, but it’s at least a useful measure for how affordable taxes are.
Rate per $1000 assessed value just seems like the inverse of house price:income, since municipal costs are heaviliy tied to labour costs, but largely independent of land value.
Reblogged this on amvpower and commented:
A new report compares tax rates among Metro Vancouver municipalities. A common perception is that the District of North Vancouver has higher tax rates than the City of North Vancouver. The truth, per $1000 of assessed value is that the City’s taxes are slightly higher.