Not as hot an election issue as I would have anticipated
I find it absolutely astounding as to how little attention any of the parties has paid to our very broken property assessment and taxation system during New Brunswick’s 2024 election campaign.
There was a bit of talk about it, particularly early on, but it was mostly fluff. Moreover, what the leaders said shows very clearly that none of the parties – and few of the candidates, I would venture to guess – truly understands what the main issue is, namely that our “rate-driven tax system”, which allows taxes to increase when assessments do, needs to be replaced.
When the International Association of Assessing Officers says that a system like ours “fails to meet the test of open and transparent property taxation”, I’m thinking politicians should be taking that very seriously.
And while some (not all) of the parties are giving lip service to systemic reform in this election campaign, their lack of policy detail suggests that they either truly don’t grasp the complexity of the situation or don’t realize how important property tax reform is to New Brunswickers.
The party platforms
This is what the parties have each included in their respective election campaign platforms.
The Liberals would “overhaul property tax to ensure stability and fairness”. Leader Susan Holt noted that they would want to do everything, “…from how we assess, to the Assessment Act, to the property tax system, the rates, the categories in place, and how those bills land at the door.”
The Greens would “overhaul the property tax and assessment system to restructure property taxes and assessments so they are fair and equitable”. To his credit, David Coon also promised that his party would decouple residential and non-residential tax rates which, as I have argued, is a critical step toward a better system here in NB,
The Progressive Conservates would…well, I don’t know what the heck they would do because I couldn’t find anything on their election website that talks about property assessment or taxation. PC leader, Blain Higgs, mused earlier in the election campaign that the system isn’t really broken and that tinkering with tax rates would be more than sufficient in terms of reform. Back in March, he did say he’d like to revamp the whole system but there have been nothing but crickets from him on this since then.
Political realities
I would never even think to recommend how anyone should vote in this election campaign. However, if property tax reform is important to you, it must be said that the NB Liberals come closest to addressing that issue, even if the devil might still be in the details and even though that party has promised such things in years past and had nothing come from it
The Greens also seem to take the issue at least somewhat seriously but their platform, too, is devoid of detail and they have little chance of forming the next government anyway. However, they could hold the balance of power in a minority legislature, which means they might still have some sway if whoever is elected to govern decides that comprehensive reform is a good idea.
And the PCs? Well, who really knows? Clearly, reform is not a priority for them and it’s hard to know whether Blaine Higgs’s musings from March or his dismissal of the Liberals’ full systemic reform platform three weeks ago are the direction his part would go if elected to govern.
Oh, and the Libertarians and some Alliance candidates want to get rid of property taxes altogether, so there’s that option, too.
Among the three main parties, the NB Liberals kind of win in my little election campaign platform survey here but, based on what’s on offer from all of them, it’s more like they finished third-last rather than won.
Could have been a winning campaign issue…
As I said at the outset, I’m absolutely shocked that property tax reform hasn’t been a bigger issue in the election campaign.
Based on my conversations with people, both when I worked in Property Assessment Services and online via my Taxing New Brunswick persona, if any one of the parties had made the simple promise that property taxes would no longer automatically increase when assessments do, I firmly believe that this would have been a winning campaign strategy.
The municipalities wouldn’t have liked it so much, but the average citizen-taxpayer sure would have. However, the parties and the candidates would first have had to understand that there is an alternative to our very broken and archaic system, and that simply doesn’t show itself to be the case at this point.
But we’ve got to start somewhere, and at least you, dear readers, now have a basis on which to judge in this election campaign. All we can do on Monday is vote. And hope.
Want to understand our property assessment and taxation system better and make it work to your advantage?
See my new book:
Taxing New Brunswick: An Insider’s Guide to Successfully Challenging Your NB Property Assessment (available on Amazon)