Home is where the money is
Ann Duff is correct when it comes to double taxes. I have lived in my home since 1941 and the taxes keep increasing. One thing she forgot to mention is that seniors not only pay double property taxes; they also pay double school taxes, which keep increasing. Some of us don't have sewers or garbage pickup in cottage country, and have to buy labels for our bags or special bags and cart the garbage to the local dump, but we are still asked to pay more taxes.
Seniors have paid to educate their children and shouldn't have to pay school taxes once they reach the magic age of 65. Maybe people at city hall and candidates in the provincial election should look at removing the burden from seniors by freezing property taxes and removing education taxes – especially when some seniors don't have children or have no children left at home who are being educated.
Verna Burness, Toronto
Bob Topp of the Coalition After Property Tax Reform asks: "Because you happen to live in a certain part of Toronto, say in the Beach or Danforth or Leaside, and (property values) are going up, are you then a wealthy person?"
You are. The equity in your home is wealth. When you own a home worth half a million dollars, you're wealthy. If you can't keep up with the property taxes, refinance the home. If your children are worried about their inheritance, have them help to pay the property taxes.
I appreciate the challenges faced by seniors on fixed incomes. However, seniors who own North Toronto homes and Georgian Bay cottages are not the folks that we should be worried about.
Jay Porter, Toronto
So we should give a tax break to a senior who is effectively a millionaire because her properties rose in value? Having your assets increase substantially in value is the kind of problem we all should have. Ann Duff should take out a loan against her house for the taxes owed. That way she can keep her two houses.
She should quit trying to get out of taxes. If she doesn't pay, we all have to make up for it. Perhaps she would like to help me pay for university for my two children – soon to be three – at an estimated cost of $15,000 per child per year.
Dave Leigh, Kincardine, Ont.
I am so sorry to hear there are seniors with properties worth close to $1 million who are having trouble paying their property taxes, and lakefront cottage owners who are suffering after seeing the value of those cottages skyrocket.
But I'll save my real sympathy and tears for the seniors I see pushing their little carts to No-Frills to get their groceries, or in the lineup at Dollarama.
Many of us do not own or never will own a lakefront cottage. And the chances of owning a home worth more than $750,000 are for the most part contingent on someday winning the lottery.
Sam Crisanti, Toronto
With all due respect to Ann Duff, she – and many others – needs to understand that income is not a measure of wealth. With $1 million of presumably unencumbered real estate assets, she is very wealthy indeed. Many options are available to convert some of her equity into cash to help to pay her taxes.
Jeff McNab, Richmond Hill
Property taxes certainly can be a very serious problem for anyone living on a fixed income. One solution is to disregard all estimations of the present value of the property when calculating taxes, and base the property taxes solely upon the income of the owner.
James C. Kennedy, Kingston, Ont.
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