farm Reassessments

[fjlip]

"That is either sheer grit and determination or outright stupidity"

We have those same feelings, have said that Grandpa could have taken a left at Winipeg and settled with grandma's family near Chicago. He wanted to make is own way.....stubborn

[the big wheel]

Instead of petty politics why not admit the burden to us farmers is increasing no matter which of the current parties is in place. The entire farming community has been the target for years yet we always think at election time our guy is doing something for us. Hahahahaha wake the hell up.

[wakopa]

Let's see, highway by my place only built a few years ago and now going downhill, ndp in charge got free trips to shut up about the poor job. Parking lot at new facility lasted one year, bridge cost over double what they should and built wrong and washed out this year (we don't need engineers here or government employees from Winnipeg telling us how to do things)Winnipeg stadium built wrong by ass sitting engineers. They can't figure how to fix road in Brandon from flooding, it is pretty simple if u not allow a government employee Or engineer there, I could go on and on . Let's just raise taxes instead

[tweety]

The taxation of an RM should be tied to the cost of running an RM, not the price of land. Its a seriously outdated concept. The cost of running an RM, line by line budget of wages and costs should be made easily available for all to see. Same with the school and its cost. Accountability isn't a bad thing.

Rather than extracting as much as possible from the taxpayer and setting the budget, it should be the other way around. A responsible practical budget, tax accordingly. If its too high, cut services.

[farmaholic]

Fellows, RMs, compared to each other, are like the farms in them....they don't all have the same value assets or sources of other income to fairly compare one RM with another. Ours is pretty lucky with half decent farmland but more importantly are the two main pipeline corridors that run through it with a tiny spattering of oil wells in a small area. The RM south of ours is poor in comparison, made up poorer assessed farmland, a federal community pasture and not alot of other big sources of tax revenue that I'm aware of. So like the farms in them, some can afford to provide more services and flip equipment more often and pay their men better than others.

[tweety]

Farmaholic, does it cost more to grade a road in your rm vs the one south of you?

Does it cost more to put a kid thru school in your rm?

They are the same, so why is what you pay for tax based on land value?

[farmaholic]

Tweety. I would definitely think there are differences in road maintenance and infrastructure costs between RMs based on labour, equipment expenses (type and age of machinery, depreciation and maintenance) and infrastructure costs...bridge maintenance and road building, etc.

Maybe the powers that be decided that since land assessment, and therefore taxation, is based on productivity, (the guy with a corner to corner wide open quarter of good productive land versus someone with a quarter with 25% water and light patches and hills) the fellow with the good dirt should be able to afford more taxes. Kind of the same with house size on acreages or even urban... they think you should be able to afford more taxes if you can afford a large house. You won't get an argument out of me regarding some of this... it is punitive taxation, like income tax, that punishes success.

[sumdumguy]

Farmaholic, does it cost more to grade a road in your rm vs the one south of you?

Does it cost more to put a kid thru school in your rm?

They are the same, so why is what you pay for tax based on land value?

I may be wrong but I assume the disparity in wealth between school divisions is a reason for amalgamation of school units. the haves gotta share with the have-nots.