Dear Editor and Mayor Walton:
Today I had to write a cheque for $7,044 for my 2014 property taxes which are a whopping $930 - or 15 per cent - more than last year.
Has my income increased by 15 per cent since last year? No, it has decreased by 100 per cent because I have retired and unlike government workers I do not have a pension subsidized by the Canadian taxpayers.
I have paid taxes in Canada since I started working at age 16. As a single parent I paid down a huge mortgage sacrificing family vacations, evenings out with friends and being able to give my son more.
Now that my mortgage is paid off am I financially secure? No, because I must pay the government $587 every month for the privilege of living in my own home. How long before monthly taxes are right up where my mortgage payment used to be? How can I possibly pay these taxes now that I'm no longer working? I am going to be forced to sell my home on the North Shore where I have lived for more than 20 years.
On the eve of Canada Day I reflected on the Canadian dream to invest in your education, work hard, raise a family and own your own home.
But the government is robbing us of our dream by threatening our ability to hold onto our homes.
Residents of North Vancouver wake up! The government that we elected is robbing us of the only secure investment that many of us will ever have. Financing ever-increasing government spending on the backs of homeowners is unsustainable and must end.
Mayor Walton, cut government spending and get out of my wallet! Stop raising taxes! Reinstate my basic grant!
Sylvia Taylor
North Vancouver
