So much for your zero per cent tax increase.
No, Squamish council didn't go back on its word - as long as your home's value didn't skyrocket too high, you're still going to pay either the same amount of municipal tax or less as you did last year.
But your overall tax bill will still go up.Why? Ask Gordon Campbell.
Your education tax rate, which is calculated on a formula that looks like it belongs in a calculus course, is dropping 10 per cent from last year. Sounds good - until you realize that property values in Squamish have gone up an average of 25 per cent. That means nearly everyone will be paying more dollars to Victoria for education taxes.
That might be easier to swallow if more school taxes meant more money for local schools. Fat chance - education taxes go into the coffers based on property value, but are paid out to school districts on a per-student basis. You'll get the same growing class sizes and shrinking teacher counts you've been getting used to in your school and paying more for the privilege.
After starting off his mandate with a whopping income tax cut, Gordon Campbell has spent most of the last three years clawing it back bit by bit. From user fees to sales tax hikes and now property taxes, nothing is safe.
On the expenditure side, it's a different story, of course. Health care workers have to live with less money. So do teachers. Students have to live with larger class sizes and fewer librarians, special needs education and support staff. The sick have to deal with ever-growing waiting lists.The only people who don't seem to have to live with less are our elected officials in Victoria.
Mayor Ian Sutherland is restraining himself from commenting on the tax grab. But it must be frustrating to have resisted the temptation to squeeze residents for more money and balance the budget, only to see the province go ahead and raid the cookie jar.
It's all the more frustrating in that property taxes are collected by municipalities for Victoria. When you get mad about the number at the bottom, you go to yell at the Mayor - as one resident did at Tuesday's council meeting - while the real culprit in Victoria gets off scot-free.
In the end, there's nothing that can be done - for now. But when you go to write that inflated cheque for your property tax bill this year, remember where the tax grab came from.
Then circle May 17, 2005 on your calendar. That's when you can pay them back - with interest
