Ben Schmidt

So this week we are looking at the issues surrounding property taxes. We are very luck today to have Jason Stephen, a Saint John Realtor, NBREA Chair of Government Relations Committee and a New Brunswick homeowner to the show.

Thank you Jason for being here and welcome to the show. What are the issues concerning property taxes?

Jason Stephen (Paraphrased to the closest possible wording) 

"Thanks Ben and thanks for the opportunity. Really, at the end of the day there are four major issues we are talking about. We are talking about the assessment issue. The assessment issues is broken down into two factors.

(1) We don't feel the assessments reflect the real market conditions. We find that there might be a hot property or a lot of new construction which is driving up the price of assessments in a particular neighborhood. We are asking that there be a broader scope and area so people will have a fair assessment.

(2) Transparency, we feel that the property tax system right now is unclear, it's unpredictable and it's inconsistent and we want government to adapt an approach that people can understand. It's hard for people to budget every year when there is 25%, 35%, 45% gain when maybe the market has not gone up that high.

(3) Another big concern is the low/fixed income such as seniors. We have one of the highest homeownership rates in the country at 75% of New Brunswicker's owning their own homes, and we want to keep them in their home as long as we possibly can.

(4) The fourth and final issue, is the issue of double taxation. We are the only Canadian province, and I'll repeat that, only Canadian province, that double taxes land, camps, cottages and multi-unit dwellings. It's not fair, it's a tenant tax and it really hurts the economic prosperity of our province. When business's or people are looking to relocate to here (New Brunswick), it's a detractor.

Ben - "So it really shifts the burden onto the business owners as well as renters"

Jason - "It definitely does, it's a tenant tax and quite honestly, what we find now it that landlords, every time the tax rate goes up, they are just passing that increase onto a new tenant or their current tenant. We want to unlock the potential for someone to own their own house and landlords want to be taxed fairly like everyone else.

Ben - "So on the issue of double tax, it's really hurting the ability of the renter to eventually own their own home"

Jason - "Well it's that, but it is also two fold. It really hurts the ability of the landlord to reinvest back into that property. When they have upwards for six months of payments going out the door to taxation it's hard for them to reinvest back into the property. So what we are suggesting, is telling government to let the landlords reinvest back into their property so that we get better housing, better tenancy and everyone will be happy at the end of the day.

Thank You." 

If you'd like to contact Jason Stephen the best way to get in touch with him would be www.jasonstephen.ca or email him at jstephen@royallepage.ca. Also for more information about all the issues surrounding property taxes please visit our NBREA Facebook Page

If you have any questions about property tax or any questions for a Realtor give me an email at ben.schmidt@me.com