Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldrsx
Mansion Tax!
I believe taxation should be progressive, and that those of us who can pay just a little bit more, should. On June 10th, I put forward the following motion for debate at the June 20th City Council Committee:
That Administration prepare a report with options for additional tax subclasses on:
1) properties valued in the top 1% of residential homes
2) residential properties valued over $2 million and that the additional revenue if realized be allocated to community safety and well-being initiatives and poverty elimination.
To date, we have not had progressive taxation at City Hall. I am a supporter of fair and progressive taxation at all levels of government
Edmonton has more than 100 residences valued over $3 Million dollars. We also have 52,000 children in poverty.
I look forward to hearing from you, michael@michaeljanz.ca
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interesting - but flawed - philosophy...
a $3,000,000 home on a 50' lot already pays 1.5 times as much tax as a $2,000,000 home and 3 times as much tax as a $1,000,000 home on the same 50' lot without the city providing any more or any less in terms of municipal services to any of them.
that seems pretty progressive to me.
as for those "100 homes valued over $3,000,000", it doesn't say whether on average they are valued at $3,500,000 or $8,500,000 so let's pick a number and say it's half-way in between or $6,000,000.
the difference between $3,000,000 and $6,000,000 is $3,000,000. the city of edmonton already taxes homes at approximately $1,000 per $100,000 so those homes are already paying an average of $30,000 per year more in property taxes than a $3,000,000 home at the current flat mill rate.
even so, let's play along and see what happens if the mill rate for property taxes on anything more than $3,000,000 doubled. That would raise another $30,000 per year on each of those 100 homes for a total of $3,000,000 on top of the $6,000,000 in property taxes those homes are already paying.
$3,000,000 isn't even a rounding error for the city of edmonton. as for attempting to compare that sum to the 52,000 children living in poverty, that amount equals $57.69 per child per annum or $4.81 per month. and that assumes that the city of edmonton has both the political will and the means to distribute that $4.81 a month to those 52,000 children in some sort of meaningful and cost effective manner.
this isn't about "progressive taxation", this is about a capital tax that provides lots of opportunity for grandstanding but little in terms of substance.