Mayor Don Iveson has a plan to try to equate taxation with fairness.
Long before the mayor came up with this, I had a call from an empty-nester asking why she still had to pay school tax when she no longer had children in school.
I explained that the previous generation had paid for her children’s school and now it was time to pay it forward.
But, times are changing.
The old sidewalk in front of the houses on my block deteriorated and the city put in a new one, for which the neighbourhood will pay for a long time, even though it is now cracked in exactly the same place.
With the Mayor’s idea about neighbourhoods paying for new rec centres, I just heard from someone saying she does not use a rec centre.
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Why should she have to be taxed? Good question.
City hall wants less urban sprawl.
Would the mayor’s plan, with people in new areas paying more for their own amenities, give people the incentive to choose infill housing over expensive sleeping in suburbia?
How well would you sleep with a city tax rat gnawing on your suburban bedpost?
Yes, we need a better tax plan.
I credit the Mayor for looking ahead. Now we all need to speak up and help him look a little further.
Let me know what you think would be fair.
Bob Layton is the news manager of the Corus Edmonton group of radio stations.
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