Cancel The 7.8% Tax Hike

Cancel The 7.8% Tax Hike

Thanks to the recently passed budget amendments, Calgarians are staring down a 7.8% increase to their property taxes.

When the original budget was passed, a tax increase of 3.4% was planned for 2024.

But, Council decided to fund not 10, not 15, not even 20, but 28 (!!) new projects, resulting in a massive increase to your tax burden.

Even worse, those projects were proposed well in advance of the actual budget deliberations - as Councillor Sharp so rightly pointed out, it's like the City went shopping before looking in the bank account!

Council also voted to shift the tax burden from businesses to homeowners by one percentage point in 2024.

But, we’re not in favour of a higher tax burden on businesses either.

If Council would just spend responsibly, we could lower taxes for everyone - individuals and businesses.

So, where is your money going exactly?

Well, Council approved $6 million in annual permanent funding for a mental health and addiction strategy.

Housing-related capital funding ate up $90 million, with one-third of that money going to “support partners to build housing for Indigenous and equity-deserving populations”.

There was also a healthy dose of corporate welfare in the form of the City’s downtown office-to-residential conversion program, in addition to $16 million to improve cycling and pedestrian pathways.

During deliberations, there were over a dozen motions proposed by some Councillors who tried to rein in the spending.

All were voted down.

Some Councillors said they could justify these increases to their constituents.

We think they’re going to have a pretty hard time with that!

At Common Sense Calgary, we refuse to accept these tax increases without a fight.

Please sign our petition to cancel the 7.8% tax hike and, once you’ve signed, please forward it to your friends, family, and wider network.