stev3n said:
Calgary should implement a land tax and decrease the property tax by an equal amount. By taxing the land value rather than the property value, we could stop providing tax incentives to lower the property value as much as possible while squating on it. It's better than a more targeted "empty lot" tax, because he can just put a parking lot sign on it, or an outhouse and call it developed. Land tax would also provide tax incentive to build denser housing/ just use land more productively in general.
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Taxing based on property value has always bothered me. Even a hybrid of property size and value would be good. Why should someone living in a condominium in the Beltline pay more tax than someone living in a single family home on a corner lot in the burbs. I get that assessing only by land size might not work in all cases either, but at least have a hybrid, and if you had to go with only one formula, taxing by property size would generally be better than property value.
At the time they implemented tax by property value, which I think was mid-80's, we didn't have many apartments or rowhomes, so the thought was that people in neighborhoods like Mount Royal would pay more, but things have long changed since then.
 
MichaelS said:
People in neighbouhoods like Mount Royal do pay more, way more, than someone who lives in a condo in the Beltline.
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In Mount Royal they do for, sure due to the high values....which I think was the intention when they went to market value. I meant more for an average neighborhood where a SFH will always end up paying less taxes than a Beltline condo on a per sq foot of land basis, and in some cases less money straight up, like in case of many SFHs in the NE. I don't think either method (market value or land square footage) is 100% fair, but maybe a mixture would work.
 
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Today during demolition
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A market for unused densities only develops with the strictest land use policies. That's not Calgary.

It's not perfect. Property taxes based on property values is the fairest system. Parking lots are being developed along intensification involving demolition. I don't think there are too many owners of these parking lots that don't have another vision than a parking lot for the lot You may have someone that doesn't have the resources to build. More often than not, that lot is in a large land bank and it not first on the list for development
 
maestro said:
It's not perfect. Property taxes based on property values is the fairest system.
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I agree an empty lot doesn’t have to be taxed the same as a high-rise building that’s in use, but there could be an annual flat fee or something to help dissuade developers from leaving a parcel an empty lot for decades like Matco has done at the Westbrook station.
 
This section of the Beltline is starting to feel a lot more empty with the recent tear downs, this and 4th and 17th being the most notable. Hopefully replacements come soon and we see some new activity on long-time empty/abandoned parcels. I hope the past decade or so of 1st Street SW's growth into a solid vibrant corridor and retail cluster can actually push it's way to the south. That corner of 17th Avenue and 1 Street SW a block from here has been abandoned as long as I can remember.

The abruptness of the Beltline's vibrancy end on 17th Avenue is really stark in contrast to the healthier, ongoing nature of urban life west of 4th Street.
 
DiscoStu said:
Golfing guy, we must have been there around the same time.

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Some more violence at:
www.flickr.com

1911 Rossmore

Demolition of the 1911 Rossmore Apartments, one of the few remaining buildings of its kind in Calgary. Dec 14, '23.
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
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Ya looks like you were there just before me. It was interesting watching it come down. The outside of the building in some places had 2-3 layers of red bricks with an additional inner core of cinder block.
 
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