6 days Ago By Brandon Sun
With property tax bills about to start appearing in homeowners’ mailboxes, many Manitobans will soon learn that the new tax-credit system implemented by the Kinew government isn’t as beneficial as they were led to believe it would be. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support.
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With property tax bills about to start appearing in homeowners’ mailboxes, many Manitobans will soon learn that the new tax-credit system implemented by the Kinew government isn’t as beneficial as they were led to believe it would be. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Opinion With property tax bills about to start appearing in homeowners’ mailboxes, many Manitobans will soon learn that the new tax-credit system implemented by the Kinew government isn’t as beneficial as they were led to believe it would be. That is the conclusion to be drawn from a front-page Canadian Press report (“Questions arise over property tax changes”) that was published in this newspaper yesterday.
Last year, Manitoba’s NDP government announced it was modifying the province’s education tax refund system that previously offered a $350 credit and a 50 per cent rebate. It was replaced by a flat $1,500 credit — now known as the Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit — which, unlike the previous rebate system, only applies to principal residences (it does not apply to commercial properties, nor residential rental properties) and does not automatically increase with inflation nor property tax rate increases. When the new tax credit was introduced last year, Premier Wab Kinew, Finance Minister Adrien Sala and other members of the provincial government claimed that 83 per cent of homeowners would receive larger refunds than they were receiving under the previous system.
Yesterday’s report indicates that may no longer be true, if it ever was. With large increases in property value assessments having occurred in many communities throughout the province, along with sizable education property tax increases imposed by cash-strapped school divisions, many homeowners are finding that the new property tax credit will amount to less than they would have received under the previous rebate system. For example, yesterday’s report discussed a Winnipeg bungalow within the Louis Riel School Division catchment area, which has increased to an assessed value of $400,000.
Last year, Kinew and Sala stood outside that home, claiming that the owners of the property would receive a larger rebate under the new system. After an increased assessment value and large school property tax increase, however, the government confirms that the property owners would have actually received a larger rebate under the previous system. Last month’s provincial budget boosts the credit to $1,600 for next year, but even that increase won’t keep pace with assessment increases and huge property tax increases approved last month by many Manitoba school divisions, let alone next year’s school tax increases.
Sala blames the previous Progressive Conservative government for the huge hikes in school property tax rates that many Manitoba homeowners are experiencing this year, but that allegation is not borne out by the facts. Over the past several weeks, this newspaper has reported on significant property tax increases passed by school divisions in Westman and throughout the province. The budget passed by the Brandon School Division last month includes a 6.
78 per cent property tax increase. School taxes have risen by even higher rates elsewhere in the province, including 15.1 per cent in the River East Transcona School Division and 11 per cent in the Seine River School Division.
Those are just a few examples. In every division, the policies of the previous government have little, if anything, to do with this year’s tax increases. Rather, the primary reason for the increases is a significant rise in the salaries paid to teachers as a result of the new provincial bargaining process, as well as other staff.
School divisions’ wage costs have risen dramatically, but provincial funding has not kept pace with those increases. For example, the province provided $3.3 million in additional funding to the Brandon School Division, but that only $2.
7 million of that new funding was eligible to be applied toward the 10 per cent increase in the division’s expenses. In fact, this year’s funding increase for 11 of 37 school divisions in the province increased by less than the inflation rate — and that meagre increase includes funding for the new school nutrition program. The previous Progressive Conservative government cannot be credibly blamed for the higher school property taxes and lower property tax rebates that many Manitobans are experiencing.
Rather, the Kinew government is intent on keeping its commitment to balance the provincial budget during its first term in office and, in order to accomplish that goal, it is offloading higher education costs — most notably generous wage increases it agreed to — onto local school divisions and, through those divisions, onto local property owners. That’s something to keep in mind when you open the envelope containing your property tax bill. Advertisement Advertisement.
