IWANUS: Why lower tax rates aren't the right headline
What landowners should really expect from media coverage of assessments, taxes
“Extra! Extra! Read all about it! They’ve lowered the tax rates for 2025!”
Leaving aside the fact that there are no longer newsboys standing in the street shouting such things, my response to lowered tax rates is, “Who cares?”
Wait, what?! Shouldn’t we be happy about lowered tax rates in our municipality? Well, yes, but only to a point. I’ll explain in a bit.
In the meantime, here are some recent headlines from various stories about finance and taxes on the Telegraph-Journal website (I recognize that the reporters don’t necessarily write the headlines, but my point is the same, as you’ll see):
“Proposed 2025 [Miramichi] city budget maintains inside tax rate”
“Tantramar approves slight tax rate decrease in 2025 budget”
“Riverview drops tax rate in 2025 budget”
There are many more of a similar type, this being budget discussion season among our municipalities. Every single one with headlines like the above is incomplete at best and utterly meaningless at worst.
Why?
Each reflects the respective reporter’s fundamental misunderstanding about how the property tax system actually functions in New Brunswick and what property owners really need to know when reading articles about municipal budgets and property taxes.
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