Opposition says government setting stage for property tax hikes

The Opposition says the Saskatchewan government is setting the stage for property taxes to rise next spring, even before tax rates have been set.

That criticism is coming from the release of the percentages of value (POV) that will apply for next year's property taxes, courtesy of Government Relations Minister Donna Harpauer.

Residential homeowners will now be charged tax on 80 per cent of the value of their home, rather than 70 per cent.

The other category of land that is seeing its POV rise is pastureland, which is increasing to 45 per cent from 40.

Business values up disproportionately

The government says while all classes of property have seen their values increase in the past four years, commercial properties have gone up by about 42 per cent, whereas homes have increased by about 15 per cent. Without an adjustment to the percentages of value used in the calculations, commercial business owners would have seen a more dramatic tax hike.

"They would have seen greater tax increases than they will with this change to POV," said John Edwards, executive director of policy and planning for Government Relations.

When asked whether that was helping businesses at the expense of homeowners, Edwards said, "Each government needs to set priorities. In the particular situation we have now, I think a lot of homeowners would agree that the economy needs support, but that's really a judgement call that I think you might want to address to the minister."

In response, Harpauer said, "if we left it exactly as it is, it'll be disproportionately higher for commercial properties than the homeowners."

She said the final decision on how much property taxes are likely to rise will come in the spring. That's when the province and municipalities set their annual budgets and tax rates for property owners.

The provincial government has held the line on education tax increases for years, but has made it clear that trend is unlikely to continue in the face of a billion-dollar deficit.