Calgary homeowners are burdened with the greatest property tax hikes in Canada, according to the study “Taxing Our Way to Unaffordable Housing” published by the Aristotle Foundation.
Calgary’s average annual property tax jumped by from $2,736 to $3,496 during the 2016-2021 period analyzed by the report, which noted this was “almost twice as quickly as second-place Saskatoon and three-and-a-half times faster than Vancouver.”
“Calgary stands as an outlier, with the most significant increase in both the effective tax rate (38%) and property tax burden (47%),” the report stated. “A decline in income (-13.2%) and dwelling value (-7.3%) suggests economic strain between the 2016 and 2021 census periods.”
Elsewhere in Canada, the report noted that “Saskatoon, at 27.3%, also saw a substantial rise in property tax pressure. Winnipeg and Vancouver also saw moderate increases, suggesting a general upward trend in western cities. Conversely, Montreal and Toronto both saw their effective property tax rates decline—by nearly 8% and 9.4%, respectively—as a result of home prices rising higher than property taxes.”
The report also observed that the largest municipality in every province west of Atlantic Canada recorded property tax hikes between the last two national censuses and warned this will create a major problem for homeowners.
“Falling incomes and residential property values mean municipalities either have to trim their budgets or increase property taxes,” the report concluded. “The latter is, obviously, the easier decision for the municipality. But rising property tax burdens could lead to the city becoming a less desirable place to live. This could mean weaker residential property values, weaker population growth, and weaker growth in the number of residential properties. The municipality is then again faced with the choice of trimming budgets or raising taxes. And on and on it goes.”
