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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but I’ll ask the question anyways. Basically I’m confused on when city hall says we’re short revenue with all the towers down town siting partially empty. Don’t the owners of these building pay taxes if the building is full or not? I have to pay taxes on my rental condo if I’ll I have a tenent in there or not. Why would commercial be different?
 
Not sure if this is the right forum for this but I’ll ask the question anyways. Basically I’m confused on when city hall says we’re short revenue with all the towers down town siting partially empty. Don’t the owners of these building pay taxes if the building is full or not? I have to pay taxes on my rental condo if I’ll I have a tenent in there or not. Why would commercial be different?

I think its cause the value of the commercial towers have declined substantially thus reducing the amount of property taxes that the city receives. They're not short revenue per se just they probably forecasted based upon higher property taxes from commercial properties
 
It’s interesting that the loss in value for commercial has made such a big impact on city coffers. The value of residential properties have taken a rather large nose dive as well. I know my house has lost approximately 15-20 percent of its value and my rental property close to 30-40 percent. The amount of resident properties and the loss in overall value must dwarf commercial
 
It’s interesting that the loss in value for commercial has made such a big impact on city coffers. The value of residential properties have taken a rather large nose dive as well. I know my house has lost approximately 15-20 percent of its value and my rental property close to 30-40 percent. The amount of resident properties and the loss in overall value must dwarf commercial
Well, all the residential value contributes to the same pot, so the math stays neutral.

The commercial/business amount is its own pot. The problem is the differential change in value between the big towers and all the other properties, so the taxes shift between the big properties and the small ones.
 
Well, all the residential value contributes to the same pot, so the math stays neutral.

The commercial/business amount is its own pot. The problem is the differential change in value between the big towers and all the other properties, so the taxes shift between the big properties and the small ones.
Maybe they need to break things up more. Small businesses are their own pot, large office space is their open pot, and warehouse space, in it's own pot. In my opinion it should be like @Golfing guy said, you pay taxes whether it's empty or not, or whether the value has gone down. If it's gone down relative to other buildings in the same city, that's different, but if office buildings were in their own tax pool, we wouldn't have this problem.
 
Maybe they need to break things up more. Small businesses are their own pot, large office space is their open pot, and warehouse space, in it's own pot. In my opinion it should be like @Golfing guy said, you pay taxes whether it's empty or not, or whether the value has gone down. If it's gone down relative to other buildings in the same city, that's different, but if office buildings were in their own tax pool, we wouldn't have this problem.

That’s very likely to have all sorts of additional unintended consequences as the economy shifts over time.

The reality is that Calgary residential properties pay an extremely low share of taxes relative to peer cities. It was sustainable to transfer that share to commercial properties because of the massive valuations of downtown office towers. Now that office values are down, the balance of the commercial space is pretty clearly over-taxed. We can get away with it to some extent because we are a large unitary city - not many businesses are relocating to Okotoks to save on property tax. But if we let it go too long, if you overtax something, you will get less of it than you need, and commercial property of all kinds will be under-supplied with negative consequences to the city. Residential needs to pay more - with an appropriate phase-in, but we need to pay more.
 
you pay taxes whether it's empty or not
Actually not, for business taxes iirc you only pay when it is occupied. So when buildings are occupied you both miss the occupation amount and the you have the decline in value amount.

Business taxes (occupied commercial and industrial property) and commercial property taxes are different pots. Hence why the shift is so great when the highest value property goes both unoccupied, and the occupied property drops substantially in value both which cause a shift over and above the commercial property tax shift.
 
Actually not, for business taxes iirc you only pay when it is occupied. So when buildings are occupied you both miss the occupation amount and the you have the decline in value amount.

Business taxes (occupied commercial and industrial property) and commercial property taxes are different pots. Hence why the shift is so great when the highest value property goes both unoccupied, and the occupied property drops substantially in value both which cause a shift over and above the commercial property tax shift.
That seems quite unfair to the rest of Calgarians. We all pay regardless if our building are occupied or not. Maybe we need to knock a point or two off off the commercial rate and make it payable on all properties, occupied or not. Would make incoming tax revenues more predictable and consistent. When property values increase then tax rates can come down with
 
That seems quite unfair to the rest of Calgarians. We all pay regardless if our building are occupied or not. Maybe we need to knock a point or two off off the commercial rate and make it payable on all properties, occupied or not. Would make incoming tax revenues more predictable and consistent. When property values increase then tax rates can come down with
Business tax has been an active issue in civic politics for at least 15 years (the total level). This value shift just brought it to the fore by causing big changes in a few years. since the amount collected has been capped for a long time, as more expensive towers were built (and occupied) downtown, the taxes owed by other properties dropped overtime. Then it shot up almost all at once for the smaller properties whose values did not drop in the same way, and who remained occupied.
 
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Does anyone have any info on the building going in next to Kirby station? I can't find a topic on it..
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