Taxation and the middle class

[ijmorlan]

A minimal one, really, with a 1.1% increase in property taxes.

So probably not an increase at all. Remember, property taxes are the only tax where an increase in the total amount charged is characterized as an increase; other taxes only “increase” if the rate at which they are charged increases. For example, the HST has been at 13% in Ontario for some time; but the actual amount paid keeps going up most years.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the mill rate that determines the tax on any specific property went down next year.

Of course it’s also true that property taxes are the only tax that one has to pay just because one still owns a property; every other tax is some sort of transaction tax — something happens; tax is due (or at least, I can’t think of any other examples right away). So this will feel like an increase even if by the standards of other taxes it is not.