Dear Editor,
Since retiring in 2010, we have deferred our property taxes so we can stay in our Richmond family home.
We have just received our 2019 property tax deferment notice and the annual interest per centage has doubled since last year and is now 1.45 per cent.
This makes the annual tax owing backlog and the compounded interest amounts escalate rapidly and the provincial government will soon own a big chunk of our home!
Also, our municipal property assessment has gone up by 10 per cent this year, and that puts us beyond any provincial grants and reduces the seniors grant for our modest 44-year-old home.
These payable increases just seem like another government tax grab. The bank only gives us 0.8 per cent of fully taxable interest on our savings account.
Our monthly OAS pension increased a whole 60 cents per person on Jan 1, 2019.
These financial adjustments, together with all the other discrete tax and fee increases, makes one wonder if the government “tax appetite department” is hell bent on squeezing seniors to a tipping point.
For us, a move from Richmond is under consideration.
Geoff White
RICHMOND
