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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Increasing property assessments will add tax pressures

People are going to be taxed out of their homes, says letter writer
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If property assessments go up by more than the average increase, taxpayers will be paying more, says letter writer. (News Bulletin file photo)

To the editor,

Re: Skyrocketing assessments won’t mean skyrocketing tax increases, Lettes, Jan. 19.

The writer correctly states that just because your assessment went up doesn’t mean your taxes will follow suit. This is only partly true. If your assessment increase was larger than the 31 per cent average, your taxes are going up and in some cases by a lot. In my neighbourhood, properties increased by over 50 per cent. There is a tax calculator on the City of Nanaimo website – I encourage readers to check out just how much they are going to be paying.

Just because people want to speculate on properties in my area, why should I be dealing with this kind of increase? I’m a senior on a fixed income.

This situation is also because the province for the first time has decided to use actual real estate prices to do their assessments. Is there an assumption on the part of the government that if your property has all of a sudden gone up you are somehow wealthy? Some of us are going to be taxed out of our homes.

Collin MacQuarrie, Nanaimo

READ ALSO: Nanaimo’s top 10 highest-assessed properties for 2022


The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin.

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