Latest news with #propertytax
CTV News
17 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Calgary council approves nearly $100 million in budget spending boost
Calgary will dip into reserves and use much of the expected surplus for 2025 to increase this year's budget spending, but it won't mean a property tax increase above what's already been approved. Calgary will dip into reserves and use much of the expected surplus for 2025 to increase this year's budget spending, but it won't mean a property tax increase above what's already been approved. Councillors approved the upped spending Tuesday afternoon after hours of closed-door discussions. 'We were very clear today that we have funding available to invest in maintenance projects, to make sure we've got fire halls coming on, that we've got upgrades to recreational facilities and that we are doing the work that Calgarians have asked us for based on what we have seen in our survey results,' said Mayor Jyoti Gondek. Reserves will help cover more than $13.5 million to help pay for cost escalations on projects already approved, including several fire stations and upgrades to the MNP leisure centre. The rest of the cost escalations, along with major maintenance and paving projects, will total $82 million and be covered by a projected budget surplus. Tuesday's vote also formally approves $15 million in funding to upgrade protective barriers for transit operators. The money came in the weeks after a Calgary bus driver was attacked and stabbed. Council had previously approved a 3.6 per cent overall property tax increase for this year.
Sky News
a day ago
- Business
- Sky News
Money Problem: 'I'm selling my second home - how much capital gains tax do I need to pay?'
Bob Jones writes in with this Money Problem... We bought a house in 2014 for £128,500. We hope to sell it in the coming months for £220,000. How much capital gains tax would we need to pay? If we spend money tidying up the house, can we offset that against the tax? We have looked into this but it is all rather unclear. There are quite a few unknowns here, and Bob did not leave his contact details for us to get in touch, so we have assumed that this property is a second home. We spoke to Charlene Young, a senior pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell... If the original purchase price is £128,500, selling your second home for £220,000 would gain you £91,500. "Assuming the property is in your own name only, and you've made no other gains on other investments held outside an ISA or pension in the year, you can deduct your annual tax-free allowance for capital gains of £3,000 to get a taxable gain of £88,500," Young says. If you own the property jointly, you'll need to work out the gain for your share. Young says that gains from the sale of residential property that isn't your main home are taxed at 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 24% for higher rate taxpayers. If your regular income and capital gains combined are below £50,270, you will be taxed at 18% bar the first £12,570 (your standard tax-free personal allowance). Any amount above £50,270 will be taxed at 24%. What costs can you deduct? "The good news is that some costs can be deducted before you apply your CGT allowance," says Young. The rules allow for the costs of buying, selling or improving your property. Typically, these will include stamp duty on the original purchase, estate agent and solicitor fees, plus the cost of any capital improvements like an extension or a loft conversion. Maintenance costs, such as decorating and repairs due to wear and tear, are not normally allowable and you must keep complete records to prove the costs you do claim. In your specific case, Bob... "Costs and capital improvements of £20,000 in total could lower your taxable gain to £68,500 and mean a lower tax bill," says Young. Did you ever live in the property yourself? You might benefit from tax relief for any periods of time you lived in the property yourself, thanks to something called Private Residence Relief. "If you have genuinely lived in the house as your only or main residence at any point, you get relief for that time, plus the last nine months before sale, even if you weren't living there in those final months," says Young. If we assume you owned the property for 11 years (132 months) before the sale completes, and you lived in it for two years between, up to 25% of the gain could qualify for relief. This is calculated by adding nine months to the two years (33 months) and dividing by 132 months. You can find a second home tax calculator and more information on private residence relief on the website. This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Wealthy homeowners accused of exploiting loophole to dodge 300pc tax raid
A Labour council has launched a crackdown on wealthy homeowners after accusing them of using a loophole to evade a 300pc tax raid on empty properties. Westminster council as much as quadrupled council tax in April in a bid to stop residents leaving houses unoccupied. It also rolled out double taxes for second home owners. But the move has been met with a 'significant increase' in the number of people using loopholes to avoid paying the higher taxes, according to the local authority. It is planning a crackdown by using the Government's anti-fraud database to reveal whether or not residents are falsely claiming key exemptions. Adam Hug, the council's leader, said: 'We have found a significant increase in owners trying to evade the additional costs by reporting the property as either not empty, not a second home, or, most commonly, claiming a single-person discount. 'It is challenging for officers to evidence that the property is indeed being used as a second home, especially if that person's primary residence is outside the borough. For both these issues, we are meeting with the Government's National Fraud Initiative.' The National Fraud Initiative is an electronic database designed to share information for use by private and public sector bodies that can identify potentially fraudulent claims, payments and inconsistencies. The council estimates that there are 34,000 homes in Westminster that are not being used as a primary residence, representing a quarter of its housing stock. This includes some 4,000 registered second homes and 1,300 long-term empty properties, as well as short-term lets used by tourists and private hospital patients. The borough has some of the highest house prices in the country, with properties selling for an average £1.5m last year, according to property website Rightmove. Speaking at a conference held last month by the Empty Homes Network, a pressure group for policy to tackle vacant properties, Mr Hug said Westminster was 'highly attractive to overseas investors' who are 'extremely wealthy' and 'significantly more challenging' to contact. From April, it imposed a 100pc council tax premium on homes that have been empty for up to five years, 200pc for up to 10 years and 300pc for more than a decade. Meanwhile, second home owners are liable for a 100pc council tax premium. Westminster is not the first council to have seen a double council tax raid on second home owners backfire. Analysis reported by The Telegraph shows local authorities will lose £334m to the policy because of a raft of exemptions available to residents. Other boroughs in the capital to have implemented double council tax for second home owners include Hackney, Wandsworth and Kensington and Chelsea. Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, has even suggested that London second home owners should pay 'much more' than the 100pc premium. Westminster council has previously called for greater powers to take control of empty properties after just six months of being vacant to tackle homelessness in the borough.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Legislature's property-tax panel sets work plan
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The special panel that will look at cutting South Dakota property taxes has decided to search for ways to reduce spending by public schools and state, county and local governments, as well as seeking new revenue sources and making state government responsible for a larger share of K-12 funding. State committee discusses possible SNAP cuts The Legislature's Comprehensive Property Tax Task Force set that plan Friday during a free-flowing teleconference that saw Republican Sen. Chris Karr chosen as chair and Republican Rep. Jon Hansen as vice chair. They were prime sponsors of the resolution establishing the panel. 'Before the session started we knew there was growing concern by our citizens of South Dakota,' Karr said. He said achieving 'meaningful tax relief for South Dakotans' would be one of the bigger issues for the 2026 Legislature. 'I believe there is a solution,' Karr said. 'I think we can do better.' The 16 legislators will split into three work groups — five lawmakers for schools, six for local governments and five for state government — and be assigned based in part on their preferences. Five public meetings are planned, starting on June 25 in Sioux Falls and followed July 17 in Rapid City and August 13 in Aberdeen. The final two will be in Pierre on September 23 and October 22. 'Everything needs to be on the table. We need to stay as broad as possible,' Republican Sen. Taffy Howard said, including tax-increment financing districts, optouts, spending cuts, and state government taking on more K-12 aid. Property-tax relief for homeowners is being emphasized by Hansen, who's running for governor in 2026. Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden, who worked with a group of legislators and got a property tax measure passed in the 2025 session, hasn't said yet whether he'll be a candidate. Representing Rhoden's administration as non-voting members on the panel are state Finance Commissioner Jim Terwilliger and former legislator Kirk Chaffee, a retired Meade County director of equalization. Terwilliger will be part of the state government work group, while Chaffee will be on the local government group. Howard, who traveled to Aberdeen earlier this week where she introduced Republican gubernatorial candidate Toby Doeden at his campaign announcement, said the task force should aim high. She posed a goal that she admitted might be 'pie in the sky.' 'Ideally,' she asked, 'what if we could eliminate property taxes on homeowners?' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Low property taxes shown in N.B. real estate ads evaporate for new buyers
Social Sharing Real estate listings in New Brunswick routinely display property-tax amounts on homes that are several hundred dollars less than what a new buyer would pay, but Realtors insist the practice is not misleading to consumers. Property taxes can be the second largest expense in owning a home after mortgage payments, and the New Brunswick Real Estate Association says its rules require tax information to be displayed with each listed property for the benefit of prospective buyers. But listings only show what a current owner is being billed in property tax, not what a new buyer will pay. "Our Realtor code makes us ensure we have the proper tax information we're using for the property, and that information would be the tax being charged on the property for the current year," said Ryan Davison, president of the association. That can be an issue for people who are house shopping, because a large percentage of homes for sale in New Brunswick belong to owners who pay discounted property tax amounts that are not available to the next owner. The New Brunswick government has a policy it calls "spike protection" that slows the growth of property taxes on a house during periods when property values are escalating rapidly. WATCH | Buyer beware: Low property taxes advertised on houses for sale aren't always what they seem: Low property taxes on houses in N.B. real estate ads can be attractive — and also unavailable to you 46 minutes ago Duration 3:23 Real estate ads in New Brunswick show prospective buyers what can look like surprisingly reasonable property taxes on houses that catch their eye. What the ads don't say is the tax information often applies only to the current owner and expires after a sale. But that protection, and the tax discount it generates, is for the current property owner only and evaporates following a sale. In Moncton this week, a listing for a house for sale on Evergreen Drive that has experienced a 107 per cent increase in its assessed value over four years shows its "annual property taxes" to be $3,471. But that is the discounted, spike-protected amount belonging to the property owner. Taxes on the home for a new owner, assuming the same assessed value, will jump to $4,922. It is 41 per cent higher than what is being shown to prospective buyers in the listing. Real estate listings that show property tax amounts on houses that new buyers will not qualify for are now widespread in New Brunswick. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week in Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview, 23 houses on their own lots were newly listed for sale. In 16 of those new listings, about two-thirds of the total, property details shown to potential buyers included spike-protected property tax amounts. On 14 of the houses full property taxes for a new owner will be more than $500 higher than what is listed, including six where the difference is more than $1,000. Davison said it is the responsibility of individual real estate agents to explain to buyers that property taxes on a home they are interested in could be higher than what is shown in a listing. But there is no requirement to provide in the listing what would be an easily calculated undiscounted property tax amount that buyers will actually face. "I don't believe it's misleading," Davison said about agents showing new buyers current, discounted tax amounts that will not apply to them. "I think they need to make sure your buyer understands what they're seeing. It is a snapshot of the property in the current day." New Brunswick's real estate industry is co-regulated by the association and the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick. However, commission spokesperson Morgan Daye said how property taxes are presented to the public on listings is not an area it is responsible for. New buyers often unaware Not realizing a property tax bill will jump when a house sells can cause problems for new buyers. It did for Julia and Konner Bourgeois. The couple bought their first home in Saint John 19 months ago. At the time it had an annual property tax bill of $3,126, but when their first tax levy arrived a few months later it was for $4,203. About half the difference was caused by an increase in the assessed value of the house and half by a tax discount enjoyed by the previous owner that expired with the sale. That forced the couple to make a $1,000 lump sum payment to make good on the tax bill and then increase payments to their bank by $90 per month to cover future payments. "We, I don't think, understood that when a home sells there isn't going to be a cap on the property tax," Julia said in an interview last January about the couple's experience. "That definitely came as a shock to us." Rob Dipiero is a Saint John real estate agent who consistently warns in his online posts that owning a house is more than a mortgage payment. He advises new buyers to fully evaluate all of the expenses they will be taking on, including what the annual tax bill is likely to be. In an interview, Dipiero said if a house carries an expiring property-tax discount and it sells for a price above its current assessed value, this year's tax bill may not be a useful reference for what a new owner will face or can afford. "I would prepare them for that.," Dipiero said. "That there would be an increase.
