Winnipeg mayoral candidates Motkaluk, Diack reveal tax plans

Winnipeg mayoral candidates Jenny Motkaluk and Tim Diack revealed their respective property tax plans on Thursday, less than two weeks from the municipal election on Oct. 24.

Motkaluk is promising to cap residential property tax increases at 1.16 per cent a year, for as long as you own your home.

“What we are providing is certainty,” she said.

“The tax system today provides an immense amount of complexity and every time you get your bill in the mail, before you open it, you have no way of knowing how much your bill is going to be and that is the thing we’re going to change.”

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Under her tax plan, Motkaluk said homeowners will no longer be penalized for renovations, as long as the home is owned. Once the home is sold, the new assessed value will set the new tax rate for the next homeowner.

Motkaluk said she has consulted experts on her tax plan and it would not require any provincial approval.

Tim Diack said, if elected, he would increase property tax no more than 1.2 per cent in his first year and would would freeze the determined tax rate the following year.

By year three, he plans on reducing both property and business tax, after “budgets spending is under control and efficiencies are identified.”

“The people of Winnipeg are burdened enough,” Diack said.

“Winnipeggers already pay the highest tax rates in the country and we cannot keep asking them for more.”

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Brian Bowman stated his continuing commitment to his tax plan back on Sept. 28, and called on fellow candidates to share their tax theirs, warning Winnipeg’s progress on roads could be in jeopardy.

Bowman said the six-year $976 million road renewal program, funded in large part from property tax hikes, was at risk under new leadership.

“The first commitment I made was on property tax increases, and all the other campaign commitments I’ve made to date are costed and funding sources are clearly identified,” Bowman said.

-With files from Timm Bruch