This. I am pissed because my place shot up a shit load, so now I gotta pay taxes on all that. I might look into a reassessment.

The value increase of my property is disproportionate to others in my building, I mean my unit is for some reason worth more than the identical unit directly above mine. And while one floor doesn't seem like a big deal, we're talking waterfront in north vancouver, and the apartments are each two floors. So my lower floor is on floor 6, and his upper floor is floor 9. So I'd argue that his apartment is better than mine.

Hell if I were to be looking at each I would pay more to have his unit if they were identical.

Now the argument would be upgrades to the units, but since last year neither party has made any upgrades to the units.

We're not talking about a small amount either. The two units are valuations are 7% off.

I'm curious about assessments that increase your building value. My neighbour didn't do any renovations at all but his building went up.

Is your unit number 888 ?? lol
The assessment team might think your "feng shui" is better than your lower / upper neighbor

That would seriously attract alot of chinese potential buyers especially yours is in North Van.

I understand the municipal government needs to collect revenue to make things happen, and I also understand that property tax is one of their biggest and most steady revenues. Still, it pisses me off to no end that property taxes work the way it does. My family has been living in the same detached house that we bought for $200k some 25+ years ago. We have no plans to sell, so the assessed value means very little to us. And yet the house is now assessed at over $1M, so we are paying huge amounts of property tax compared to the before.

For long term primary residential units, I just don't think the way property taxes work make any sense.

Of course. I am fully aware of that!

The best thing about property sales is the tax free gains (as long as it is your primary residence for 12+ months)

:grenade: tax man

Woohoo. Traum is a baller.
Time to get a P car. :concentrate:

haha how would you like it to work??

you think the city gives a shit if you've been there for 2 years or 25 years?

Till you buy a new one and have to pay Property Transfer Tax on your $1,000,000 purchase and then they be like, "haha just got you pay us $18,000.00 to fill out some paper work, SUPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!!!!".

Whether the city gives a shxt or not is an entirely different matter. What I am saying is, long term home owners are getting the short end of the stick here. They are not reaping any benefits from the elevated home prices, and yet they still have to pay some much higher property taxes.

You benefit from the increased value in your home should you choose to sell or borrow against the equity. I see a solution though I think you should take it to city council. Propose that you never pay elevated property taxes but should your home go up in value after purchase the difference between what you paid and what you sell it for goes to the city, seems fair. :)

I believe in certain US states like Nevada, you only pay property tax on the purchase price, regardless of change in assessment

So you don't like paying property taxes, but you love overpaying civil servants. Can't have it all buddy. If you want every mediocre government employee and teacher to make 80k, then be ready to pay for it.

The money has to come from somewhere, fine slash the property taxes to purchase price only, but be prepared for that raise in income tax.

More than anything else, I don't like paying lying politicians, MLAs, and crown corp executives top dollars with public money. I say the priority with fat trimming should always start there. :)

The entire civil sector needs a massive pay cut.

See the problem is the fact that unlike the private sector which goes through a period of correction once rates get too crazy these civil servants counter that by unionising and forcing through out of control wages.

I mean come on the entire economy has a downturn, homelessness goes up by 5%, foreclosures all over the place, yet the fucking secretary at city hall makes the same 70k a year without a worry in the world.

The entire system is a farce. You want people to earn their keep, go to work and put in an honest days effort; pay them based on performance, not how long they have been sitting at the same shitty desk, doing the same mediocre work.

I do not agree, I would rather people who make decisions at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels are compensated competitively.

Why? Because how else do you retain smart/hard working people? I often feel our public sector suffers because of the limits on compensation.

Food for thought, I find myself often disappointed by my peers in private industry who are paid very well, in contrast, when dealing with the NEB on regulatory issues, everyone I deal with seems to be very professional, organized, intelligent, etc… and they make less than ½ of what the private sector would pay them. (Maybe 25% less when you factor in all the perks – pension etc.)

I wish we paid teachers twice as much, so we could start attracting more people who would make GREAT teachers.

My .02 anyway.

the difference is people in the private sector can get paid more, yes, but when times get tough, they'll get cut in a blink of an eye.

where as other public sectors even if times are tough, its hard to cut them.

that's the balance as far as i can see. win some lose some.

high pay, and hard to lay off, would fuck shit up.

lol only professors with tenure have that perk.

i bet you'll love it when you eventually sell the house and get top dollar

Yes but private industry exists to make profit, they are subject to economic contractions in way the public sector is not.

Ie: population keeps growing, city keeps sprawling, more schools and roads needed etc.. Until of course the city goes "Detroit". Even if all residential and commercial growth stops in a city, up wouldn't expect many servants to lose their job as they need to exist solely to maintain the existing systems/demands of the population and physical infrastucture etc.

Can't focus, must keep killing noobs on gta5.

most of the best talent won't touch government with a 10 foot pole as after about 3 years in a gov job, you are often black listed for good industry jobs solely on the basis of the government 'lifestyle'.

This is true for finance, and somewhat true for friends I had working at BC assessment.

I find you tend to get a certain type working for the government. They're not usually the most dynamic (again, I can only speak to finance).

They should be paid market rates and not be protected - let the invisible hand of Mr. Market dictate terms.

I mostly agree with this. The main problem imo with government is everyone is usually paid the same, even the lazy slacker is getting paid the same as the productive and efficient worker that is producing 200% the average worker. Sure you can argue that that efficient worker is going to get promoted. But the top government jobs dont make much. Upper management in the Public sector is like 90-150K. CEO's of government organizations only make $200-250K. which is nothing compared to the private world.

A lot of times the good employees switch to the private sector so they can get more $.

But this is kinda digressing from the topic of Real Estate.

Back on topic. I'm very curious to see how the drop in oil prices will affect Real estate in vancouver.

My guess is it will have an effect in Alberta, but I don't think it will affect Vancouver too much. I'm not seeing the demand from china slowing down. Lots of chinese clients and chinese buyers still buying homes.

I disagree. Taxes, in most countries, are progressive, and is usually a tax on wealth. The richer you are, or the more assets you own, or the more money you make, the more you pay.

If my house is worth $1 million dollars, and your house is worth $1 millon, we should both be taxed the same. I dont want to subsidize your taxes just because you bought it 25 years ago. The way municipal taxes work, they have a certain budget that they need to collect $ money from. and if one pays less, others pay more.

Plus, for all those people that are complaining that they can't afford the property taxes, well here's a solution! Sell your house and rent.

I hear on the news about people on the west side complaining that their taxes have gone up because their home has increased by $1 million in the last few years. Are you serious? You just gained a million dollars, all you have to do is sell and rent and live the rest of your life a millionaire.
THERE'S NO LAW SAYING YOU ARE ENTITLED TO OWN YOUR HOUSE.

It would take the average person making $50K a year over 20 years to make a million dollars, and that's not accounting for income tax. I would love to be in that situation. Why should I subsidize you even though you are now a millionaire? Cry me a river.

Holy hyperbole and generalization much?

Secretaries in the government are generally at the CR-04 level and make $45k a year, not $70k, and there are very few of them because secretaries are generally not required except at the highest executive levels. Some of them are AS-01's or AS-02's if they are the secretary for a minister, but regardless that tops out at $54k... not the huge exaggeration you are listing. And they all do shitty mediocre work because they work at the government? Really? Do you think gay people spread aids and black people are all criminals too? Yah sure some people fuck the dog, but you're telling me nobody does that at a private company? I know wayyyyy more people doing that in private sector who go for hours long luncheons and expense claim everything they do back to the company than is even possible in the government where you never get any Christmas parties or anything whatsoever paid for since it's all public money. You're so misinformed it's not even funny.

Why are you picking on people trying to get by on regular salaries anyway? The real damage/injustice is done in corporations and private firms where pay is all relative to ranking, not how much work you do and certainly not for an HONEST days work. If you think the government is such a great freeloader's gig, nobody is stopping you from going to jobs.gc.ca and applying for one of these so-called goldmine jobs and you can experience it yourself instead of talking out of your ass.

And do what? Move? You still have to buy somewhere else to live with a grossly inflated price if you plan on staying in the lower mainland, pay a realtor, property transfer tax,etc.
People making massive gains on real estate doesn't translate into money made if you don't leave that inflated market, or go back to renting.

i'm thinking qualified trades workers that all left for alberta will come back which will fill the hole that was left whenmany chased dem oil cheks

it might increase the cost of construction if those guys are worth more, or make things more competitive since there's more employees for companies to chase more work which could drive prices down?