This from grumpy at greaterfool.ca 30 Jan 2010 at 6:15 pm -
“I just got my property tax assessment. Its up by 21% over last year. This is hell of a way for the governments to engineer another tax grab eh? Don’t tell me that the BOC and Flaherty don’t know exactly what’s going on here. Several ‘New Canadian’ neighbours who are mortgaged to the hilt after of buying at the very top of the market (Vancouver) have asked me to help them appeal the assessments. I suspect that the reason is that they are now facing additional expenditures that they hadn’t calculated into their monthly budgets. Many of these people have no obvious source of income, so where does the money come from? I don’t ask. Nor do a majority speak a word of English, or work. But it is becoming obvious they are not paying cash, and are only ‘in the game’ on spec, with huge mortgages that eat their lunches for them every day, and it’s getting uncomfortable to be so hungry. As an ex-analyst I know how the appraisal process works, and I know I would be wasting my time appealing the assessments. The very people who are crying about the increase in taxes are the same people who had a part in generating the statistics for the appraiser in the first place. I suspect they have only purchased these properties because of the free money offered to people with no credit record and no job, to wait for a big payoff before selling. If I am right the bubble is about to burst based on unaffordable costs of ownership finally becoming a factor for the many who have ‘no skin in the game’.”
