Halifax could return $100 million a year to its coffers if Nova Scotia revised its Capped Assessment Program for property owners.

The Grand Parade podcast: Nova Scotia’s property tax cap is subsidizing millionaires and landlords. Here’s how to fix it.

Plus, the Halifax Forum debate and a full catastrophe of the commons.

By Martin Bauman and Matt Stickland

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Take heed of the old phrase, “Be careful what you wish for.” Back in 2005, when Nova Scotia introduced its Capped Assessment Program, the stated goal was to keep seniors and families in their homes that might otherwise have been priced out. The solution of the day was to limit property tax increases to no more than the annual inflation rate. It sounds considerate—and indeed, it worked. But then the price of homes in Halifax rocketed to the moon, and nothing has ever been the same.

On this week’s Grand Parade podcast, writer Deny Sullivan joins Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman to discuss the unintended consequences of the cap—namely, how it has led to some mansions being under-taxed by $3 million, and how it has also shielded investment property owners with multiple homes from paying more for their additional assets. Sullivan proposes what he describes as “The Perfect Tax Hike”: A way to return $100 million to the HRM annually.

Plus, all the news from HRM council’s July 11 meeting—including a spirited debate on the Halifax Forum renovations and the future of the Integrated Mobility Plan.

And here is the map referenced in the show. The teal areas are the areas of mandated density.

click to enlarge

The Grand Parade podcast: Nova Scotia’s property tax cap is subsidizing millionaires and landlords. Here’s how to fix it.

About The Authors

Martin Bauman

Martin Bauman on Twitter

Email Martin Bauman

Martin Bauman, The Coast's News & Business Reporter, is an award-winning journalist and interviewer, whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Calgary Herald, Capital Daily, and Waterloo Region Record, among other places. In 2020, he was named one of five “emergent” nonfiction writers by the RBC Taylor Prize...

Matt Stickland

Matt Stickland on Twitter

Email Matt Stickland

Matt spent 10 years in the Navy where he deployed to Libya with HMCS Charlottetown and then became a submariner until ‘retiring’ in 2018. In 2019 he completed his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College. Matt is an almost award winning opinion writer.