Dear (read: expensive) council,
Shame on you for keeping on increasing our property taxes by 10-15 per cent every year.
While you can (and do) raise your own salaries by any amount, the ordinary Sooke residents are not able to do so! Many of us are also on a fixed income. Moreover, the hikes happen even when property assessment values go down (in the last two years).
Look at your fancy spending, like a multi-million-dollar footpath or some unnecessary grants – is it the way to go in the lean years?
Also, to be fair, municipal taxation should take into account not only the speculative property values, but also people's incomes, similar to provincial and federal taxes.
But even at the present state of affairs, look, as an example to follow, at municipalities that tax their residents minimally, not maximally. Isn't that what you are supposed to do? Take care of us?
Nina Leshinskaya
Sooke
