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Annis says 2.9% Surrey property tax increase a ‘complete myth’

Coun. Linda Annis says tax bills coming in at 20% higher than last year
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File photo: Tom Zytaruk

The gulf between Mayor Doug McCallum’s announced 2.9 per cent property tax and what a Surrey councillor says taxpayers are really having to fork out is wide and deep. Just like last year.

Surrey’s property tax notices have been mailed and payment is due on July 4. McCallum said during his 2022 State of the City Address on June 1 that “for four straight years” council has held the residential property tax rate at 2.9 per cent, “which puts Surrey in the bottom third in all of Metro Vancouver.”

A particular bone of contention for many who were critical of last year’s budget, which was approved on a 5-4 vote by the Safe Surrey Coalition majority on council in Dec. 2020, was a 200 per cent increase in the capital parcel tax increase – which sat at $100 per parcel before increasing to $300.

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Coun. Linda Annis, of the Surrey First slate, noted the parcel tax increase continues in 2022 but is not factored into the 2.9 per cent. She says many property tax bills are now coming in at 20 per cent higher than last year.

“People are not interested in this sort of smoke and mirrors when it comes to their taxes,” Annis said. “Property tax bills last year were also higher than Doug McCallum’s promised 2.9 per cent increase and we’re seeing another giant increase this year.

“All of us go to the bottom line to see what our actual tax bill is,” she noted, “and I’m hearing from more and more people that the mayor’s 2.9 per cent increase is a complete myth, and not even close to the real number.”



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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