SteeredVille
Digital front page.
Vancouver Sun.
Can the thundering hooves of the Keef be far behind?
.
The media herd that is.
Yesterday, Norm Farrell wrote about the many municipalities in British Columbia, including the City of Vancouver, that are sitting on mountains of 'surplus' cash:
At the time, I couldn't help but note that despite this, based on a pretty much data-free report from the Mayor's budgetary task force, we would soon be hearing about how we could get out of the phantom fiscal woods by selling off public assets.
And today, whadd'ya know...
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Yesterday, Norm Farrell wrote about the many municipalities in British Columbia, including the City of Vancouver, that are sitting on mountains of 'surplus' cash:
At the time, I couldn't help but note that despite this, based on a pretty much data-free report from the Mayor's budgetary task force, we would soon be hearing about how we could get out of the phantom fiscal woods by selling off public assets.
And today, whadd'ya know...
Digital front page.
Vancouver Sun.
Can the thundering hooves of the Keef be far behind?
.
7 comments:
Remember when it was said that BC Rail was not profitable?
Who benefited, the realtors.
They still rule.
TB
978 years Togo till bc Raul lease expires
TB and Anon-Above--
Archives said!
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I’ve read a lot of report transmittal letters in my time, and must say that this one probably tops the list for saying the quiet part out loud. Leaving aside the cringe worthy parts about profound findings and bold solutions, several elements poked me in the eye. For example:
“Together we have the power to enact these changes, securing Vancouver’s status as a world class city. Your involvement and support in this journey is crucial.
Thank you for your dedication to our city’s welfare and success. I eagerly anticipate your insights and partnership in bringing about these vital transformations.”
Mutual power to enact? You’ll have to support and join this journey? Partnership?
I can barely hear the sound of Keef’s thundering hooves over the chops being licked at the thought of strategic partnerships and non-core assets. Simply a case of overly enthusiastic and altruistic volunteers, or something to keep a very close eye on? Time, as the saying goes, will tell.
lThe transfer of public assets to private industry. How swell is that. The private buyers will own the assets forever and theh public will loose all sorts of things. Some of the community centers in the lower mainland sit on some very valuable land. they'll be sold, increased fees. then we will hear about the expense of retro fitting them and then we'll hear about the condos which will be build on them with a tiny piece of grass for the public to use but not fields for people to play socceer, football, baseball on or just istting under a tree which the kids run around and have fun.
You'd think people might remembrer when the Socreds/B.C. Lieberals sold little Mountain housing to a private developer. The developer got the land and will make the profit and the homeless or under houses get nothing. Had that land been kept by the province something creative could have been done to buid housing and retain the green space.
Cities will sell off school properties and in Vancouver that will be very lucrative for the buyers. the city not so much. Once land is sold, its gone and a city won't be able to purchase it again.
No government owned land ought to be sold. Leased perhaps, but never sold. We do not know what the future holds, but we have wars, climate change, droughts, etc. Land must be kept available for what could be coming down the road.
This is happening all over the province. Many cities are selling assets such as parks and arenas.Mostly because over years past infrastructure has been neglected and not maintained and now it's biting them in the ass. and they need cash now.
Ever since I read the article in the Vancouver Sun by Dan Fumano & Douglas Todd on March 23, 2019, I've felt that property taxpayers have been getting ripped off.
"The city of Vancouver’s places of worship, which sit upon more than $3.4 billion of real estate, are getting into the housing game more than ever before, scaling projects skywards in an attempt to benefit both their congregations and a community facing a housing crisis."
https://www.niho.com/houses-of-the-holy-in-vancouver-a-union-of-church-and-real-estate/
Today I found this article
https://centreforinquiry.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CoR-tax-implications.pdf
Page 7 of 14
Using the New Brunswick data as proxy makes it possible to create a rough estimate for forgone municipal revenues due to the property tax exemption granted to churches and religious charities. Municipal revenues were lessened by $18.2 million in New Brunswick on land and buildings with a T3010 value of$545 million, for an implicit rate of approximately 3.3 %. Table 2 shows that nearly $900 million lost across Canada every year by exempting churches from property taxes.
Table 2: Estimate of Foregone Property Tax
Province British Columbia
Reported T3010 Land and Building Value $3,800,000,000
Estimated Forgone Municipal Revenue $ 126,899,083
Page 6 of 14
The special status of churches and religious charities in Canadian tax law allow them to enjoy the services and benefits paid for through taxation while minimizing their contributions (or avoiding them entirely). All levels of government -- federal, provincial, and municipal -- must ALL absorbed the loss of these revenues from religious charities by increasing taxes on ALL Canadian, growing government debt, or reducing funding of government programs.
At all levels of government, money is a scarce resource. Providing special tax status to organizations that exist to promote their religion is inappropriate and unaffordable.
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