Tim Bousquet’s recent editorial on Tax Reform (“Taxing problems,”
August 13) uses strong language but is short on substance and
facts.
Regional council appointed seven citizens and six councillors from
across the region to review the “foundations” of the property tax
system and to conduct public consultations. Its meetings are public and
extensive information is available at halifax.ca/taxreform.
Among its conclusions is that there is effectively no relationship
between income and home values. Using 2001 and 2006 Statscan Census
data for Halifax, it found R-Squareds of 27 percent and 22 percent (not
37 percent as quoted in the editorial). The editorial, however, fails
to refer to any data or studies showing any relationship between income
and home values. Neither the author nor anyone quoted called to ask
questions or look at the statistics before commenting. It appears that
the Tax Reform Committee has one of the few studies on this topic with
credible data and analysis.
In the committee’s dialogue with citizens, it is clear that the
public wishes to have a service-based tax system while supporting
families of modest incomes. The committee’s proposal balances many
competing objectives while, at the same time, providing additional
support for low income homeowners. It has clearly advised council that
this model “is only one of numerous approaches that council could take”
and that there are many “variations and changes” that could be
made.
The volunteers and councillors on the Tax Reform Committee take
their responsibility seriously and are working to design a new tax
system for all of HRM. Tax issues are emotional and can become overly
complex. I urge citizens to read the various reports and information
put out by the committee for themselves and provide their feedback
directly to the committee.
—David Grace, Chairperson, HRM Tax Reform Committee
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.