Property taxes are regressive and more so in the larger urban areas.OTTAWA -- Property taxes are regressive re·gres·sive adj. 1. Having a tendency to return or to revert. 2. Characterized by regression. re·gres and low-income homeowners pay proportionately pro·por·tion·ate adj. Being in due proportion; proportional. tr.v. pro·por·tion·at·ed, pro·por·tion·at·ing, pro·por·tion·ates To make proportionate. more of their income on property tax than their higher-income counterparts. This was true in every one of 342 municipalities examined in a report published in Perspectives on Labour and Income, a Statistics Canada publication. The study shows that property taxes are most regressive in municipalities where homeowner incomes vary widely but property values are relatively homogeneous The same. Contrast with heterogeneous. homogeneous - (Or "homogenous") Of uniform nature, similar in kind. 1. In the context of distributed systems, middleware makes heterogeneous systems appear as a homogeneous entity. For example see: interoperable network. . Real estate taxes bear no relationship to income. The report indicates that municipalities (such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver) often have more regressive taxes regressive tax Tax levied at a rate that decreases as its base increases. Regressivity is considered undesirable because poorer people pay a greater percentage of their income in tax than wealthier people. because they tend to have relatively unequal income distributions, and/or relatively homogeneous housing prices. In contrast, municipalities in large urban areas with less regressive taxation tended to have more heterogeneous Not the same. Contrast with homogeneous. heterogeneous - Composed of unrelated parts, different in kind. Often used in the context of distributed systems that may be running different operating systems or network protocols (a heterogeneous network). housing prices and/or less unequal incomes. Contrary to an often Cited belief, regressive property taxes cannot be attributed principally to seniors with relatively low incomes living in relatively expensive houses. In fact, in most municipalities, low-income people below the age of 65 had equal or heavier tax burdens than their senior counterparts. The article "Property Taxes Relative to Income" is in the March 2005 online issue of Perspectives on Labour and Income. |
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