PT #1 Close to home. What do property taxes pay for?

Vancouver has once again been rated the most livable city in the world, topping 140 cities, according to a survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit. The annual survey scores cities worldwide from 0 - 100 based on 30 factors grouped in broad areas such as infrastructure, the environment, culture and education.

How do we rate number one, year after year? Property taxes and what they pay for have a lot to do with it.
Think about our great infrastructure, our award-winning libraries and recreation facilities, playing fields and cycling paths, our abundant parks and green spaces, our well maintained road surfaces, and our new police officers and firefighters. Taken together, these add up to a high quality of life in Metro Vancouver.

Read the Economist Intelligence Unit livability study at: www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2009/06/liveable_vancouver

To help preserve our quality of life, we have to pay property taxes, which go toward funding:
• animal control • parks/green space
• archives /museums • police protection
• community centres • sewage treatment
• emergency plans • innovative land use planning
• fire service • swimming pools/ice rinks
• heritage planning • safe building regulation
• local road maintenance • safe drinking water

Why have property taxes increased overall?

This is a question REALTORS® are asked by home owners and home buyers. Generally, there are two reasons.

1. Property taxes are set by local government councils to meet their funding needs. Local governments cannot run a deficit so they must raise taxes and/or fees to meet the cost of providing increased services (or they must cut services). Costs increase for a variety of reasons including inflation, higher energy and materials costs, rising wages and salaries and new programs.
2. New residential construction was down about 23 per cent compared to the previous year, which means the tax base wasn't growing as much. A growing tax base helps spread the tax load over more taxpayers and minimizes the need for property tax increases.

A helping hand - the Home Owner Grant
In 1957, the BC Government implemented the Home Owner Grant to help reduce the amount of school taxes paid by property owners. To be eligible for the grant, the property owner must be:
• a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant and reside in BC;
• the registered owner or eligible occupant of the home located within the province; and
• living in the home as a principal residence. The grant doesn't apply to summer cottages, second homes or rental properties.

Spouses who live together, who are married or live together in a marriage-like relationship, including same-gender partners, can qualify for a grant on one residence in the province in a calendar year.
Spouses who live apart can each claim a grant on their principal residence if they have a written separation agreement or a court order recognizing the separation.

Eligible home owners must apply for their grant each year before the tax due date.
How much is the grant?

For 2010, the basic grant reduces taxes for home owners under the age of 65 by up to $570.
The additional grant for home owners age 65+ and eligible veterans and disabled home owners is $275, for up to a total of $845.

The basic grant is reduced by $5 for each $1,000 of assessed value over $1,050,000 and is eliminated on homes assessed at $1,164,000 and above.

The additional grant is reduced by $5 for each $1,000 of assessed value over $1,050,000 and is eliminated on homes assessed at $1,219,000 and above.
For more information: www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/hog

Multiple owners, multiple grants?
If you own a property with others, decide which owner will pay the taxes so you don't pay twice. If, for example, there are three owners living in a dwelling as a principal residence, only one Home Owner Grant can be claimed.
You may qualify for the Home Owner Grant if you're a shareholder of a corporation, or a member of a housing cooperative or housing society that owns:

• an apartment building;
• housing cooperative buildings; or
• housing society buildings.

The corporation, cooperative or society applies for grants for all eligible property or units in the building and passes the grant benefit to qualifying occupants. An eligible property includes:

• land shown as a separate taxable parcel on a tax roll that has a taxable improvement;
• a building containing at least two apartment units, each occupied by an eligible occupant;
• eligible land cooperative residences; and
• a multi-dwelling leased parcel with two or more residences on it.