I'm sorry but this post is just dissembling.
We've had this argument about property taxes and apartments before on the Hamilton Skyscraper Forum before.
Sure as a tenant you don't pay property taxes directly. However by that logic you as a consumer don't pay the HST either then. The retailer could chose not to remit the HST portion of the purchase if they felt like it, with negative consequents if they didn't, just like if a landlord decided not to pay his/her property taxes. Property taxes for apartments exist and their rates have economic effects no matter how they are collected.
With regards to your arguments of why the rates are higher for apartments, that's not the reason they're higher. The reason they are higher is that homeowners vote and apartment owners don't, so the city in the past cranked up the apartment rate to keep single unit housing rates low. Also the rate isn't a little higher for apartment buildings, it is a lot higher.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duckyboy
Not really, as the rent you pay can technically go towards anything the owner wants. Stating that it is specifically restricted for taxes makes no sense; no governing body can enforce what an owner spends his rental income on. Let me re-iterate: renters do not pay any property tax. You don't receive and MPAC assessment in your name, neither do you receive a CoH tax assessment in your name, therefore you don't pay property taxes. The owner received those statements, therefore he pays the taxes. He might choose to use your rent to pay for it... he might not.
Now, as far as it being higher, it is in buildings with 6 or more (I think) units in them. This is to cover the vast increase in services that a multi-family property uses, such as: Police/fire/ambulance/school/and various other government services.
They are all (as they should be) sort of based on a PER PERSON basis, not a PER HOUSEHOLD basis. A structure having 10 families will generally use far more resources (listed above) than a single family home will; hence the higher tax rates.
They can't just x10 the same rate as a single family home, as that would be insane, so they just increase the rate a little to help offset the large extra cost.
I hope some of this makes sense; and I apologize if I came off as an ass. I'm just trying to clear things up a little.
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