The Luxembourg-based tax advisory firm found Canadians spend on average “a massive” 53.85% of their rental income on taxes.

That’s more than 12% higher than the second country on the list, the United States. Norway and the U.K. round out the top-four most-expensive places to invest in commercial property, with 36% and 34% of income payable to taxes. Finland has the lowest tax rate among the 23 countries surveyed with just less than 9% recouped by the taxman.

“The alarmingly high total tax rate in Canada is largely the combined result of high levels of both income tax, which stands at a rate of 30%, and real-estate tax at 3.60%,” the report said.

The most expensive place to sell a commercial property is Norway, Taxand found.

http://www.torontosun.com/money/2010/11/29/16361826.html

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Starting January 1, 2010, 93 per cent of Ontario income tax payers will get a permanent tax cut, as part of a comprehensive tax plan that will help create 591,000 jobs and make the province more attractive for new business investment.

The province is cutting the first income bracket tax rate by one percentage point, from 6.05 per cent to 5.05 per cent. As a result, Ontario will have the lowest tax rate of all provinces on the first income bracket, and an additional 90,000 lower income Ontario taxpayers will no longer pay any provincial personal income tax.

The comprehensive package also includes $10.6 billion in direct payments and permanent tax relief, including the following:

• Starting in August, nearly 3 million low- to middle-income Ontario families and individuals will receive a new, permanent Ontario Sales Tax Credit of up to $260 for each adult and child per year – one of the most generous in Canada.
• An additional $270 million in annual property tax relief, through enhancements to the Ontario Property Tax Credit, will benefit 2.3 million low- to middle-income homeowners and tenants.
• Starting in June 2010, Sales Tax Transition Benefits will benefit 6.5 million Ontario families and individuals – totalling up to $1,000 for families (including single parents) and up to $300 for single people – in 2010 and 2011.

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In its second annual municipal spending watch report, released Thursday, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says that wage and benefit hikes are the main cost-driver behind growing municipal spending.

There’s a complete disconnect between the salaries and benefits in the public sector and the private sector,” said CFIB vice-president Laura Jones. “It’s completely unfair to taxpayers.” Jones estimates that municipal workers earn 10 per cent more than workers in business and industry, and 35 per cent more if you factor in benefits.

And there’s also wide variations in staffing levels, per head of population, the report shows. Abbotsford has five employees per 1,000 people, while West Vancouver has 29 and Whistler 46. “We need to start asking some questions,” said Jones. “Why does one municipality need 29 employees per thousand population, while another needs five?”

“There could be a lot more done to control costs at this level of government.”

Maureen Bader, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, said that in North Vancouver, 91 civil servants made more than $100,000 last year, compared to 60 in 2006.

And in West Vancouver, 166 city workers made over $75,000.

“We’ve seen this across the province,” said Bader. “Self-interested pols are allowing municipal salaries to spiral out of control.”

Municipalities don’t face the same cost constraints as private industry, and can let tax-funded salaries go up without much, if any, restraint.”

Bader said most of the tax burden falls on business and industry, and in some municipalities the industry tax rate can be 20 times higher than the residential tax rate.

The CTF has called for a cap on proprety tax rates, and to create property tax rates for residents, businesses and industry.

“This will precent municipal politicians from subsidizing services to residents as a vote-buying tactic, while sending the bill to business.”

Retired financial manager Garrett Poleman, who is among a dozen members of a West Vancouver ratepayer-group, said “The big driver is definitely salaray and benefits, because that is 80 per cent of operational budgets,” said Poleman.

Hiring more staff brings higher salaries, and annual wage increases are steadily in the three-to-five per cent range.

“There’s been no barrier, no brake,” he said. “So you end up paying more taxes.”

And in Vancouver, property taxes could rise 4.8 per cent next year, and five per cent in 2011, just to cover salary increases of $26.7 million and $28 million respectively.

SFU public policy expert Doug McArthur said it’s not wages that are driving costs, but increased municipal services.

“If municipalities are growing services…you are going to see the overall wage and salary benefits growing,” said McArthur. “It’s a service sector.”

McArthur also said that big infrastructure projects like the millions spent on hockey arenas, Olympic venues and leisure complexes also hike up operating costs for municipalities.

“They are getting their capital project, but they are going to have to pay to operate them when they are finished,” he said.

Barry O’Neill, President of CUPE B.C., which represents 98 per cent of the province’s 37,000 municipal workers.

He said the CFIB numbers are being “plucked out” without back-up references.

“I don’t know where the evidence comes from,” said O’Neill. “It’s nonsense.”

Wage increases for municipal workers over the past 10 years have barely kept in line with inflation, he said, and they’re no bigger than the private sector.

A carpenter in the public sector is not making more money than a carpenter in the private sector, he said. “I never hear the CFIB talking about how you find other revenue streams,” he said.

http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Business+group+says+municipal+hikes+driven+salary+spending/2190132/story.html

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STRATHAM — The Board of Selectmen voted this week to accept payment on taxes early, a practice previous boards considered and rejected.

“I don’t think we had the technological sophistication we have now in our tax collector’s office,” said Town Administrator Paul Deschaine, about why the proposal was rejected by previous boards.

“It’s something that I’ve wanted to offer to taxpayers for a long time,” said Tax Collector and Town Clerk Joyce Charbonneau. She said she routinely receives calls from residents asking if they can pre-pay their taxes.

The program is already up and running, and had two people pre-pay portions of their tax bills on Tuesday, Oct. 6, the day after selectmen voted it into practice.

“We’ve had a lot of anxious calls in the past few months from people worried that the tax bills are going up,” she said.

Charbonneau said, as she tells the callers, she can’t guess what the tax rate will do this year, but she said it will probably be coming out about a month late. “People are worried and some people want to put a little away and whittle down the tax bill so they aren’t hit with the full cost all at once,” she said.

Charbonneau said people can set up a schedule with her, or just stop by at their leisure, but that she would not be calling or sending out reminders to people if they don’t stick to their schedule.

“Anything that we can do to make things a little easier for people, particularly in this economy, is a good thing,” she said. “They can come in every month or every week— or every day if they want and they can pre-pay as much as they want.”

At this point, residents can pre-pay toward their tax bill as much as they want and at the end of the year if there is a remaining balance it will be refunded to them. In the beginning of the year, residents can pre-pay toward the July tax bill and any extra funds can be refunded or applied toward the December tax bill.

Other towns in the area use systems of pre-payment. “I’ve spoken with some of them and they said it is no problem,” she said. “There is no additional administrative burden.”

There was some discussion about the possibility of taking payments as far as the state law allows, two years ahead of when the taxes are due.

“I don’t see a problem with letting people pay two years in advance,” Selectman David Canada said. “But, I also don’t see a problem in letting you crawl before you run,” he told Charbonneau, pointing out that if she decided later to extend how far people could pay in advance, it would not require approval from the Board of Selectmen.

“As always, Joyce is out there to help the customers,” Canada said.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20091009-NEWS-910090315

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