If you drive a car, I'll tax the street;

If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat;
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat;

If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Taxman. The Beatles. (Yeah, but.) 

(Pssst) This year, Tim Houston’s government passed the CBRM an envelope -  it had a cool 15 million dollars stuffed inside it. Hoorah.

CBRM Council is in the process of deciding how this one-time influx of 15 million dollars into their budget should be spent.

According to the Cape Breton Post, eight of twelve councillors think that cutting property taxes is the way to go.

Whoa.

Here is an imaginary conversation between Councillor Cut Taxes and Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture.

Councillor Cut Taxes: “I am dancing the jig of the joyous. Premier Tim Houston actually gave us 15 million dollars, just like he said he would when he was trying to get elected.”

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture: “Ha! I am dancing the waltz of the wary. Houston told us that he would give us some cash if he was elected. He has. But not every-year cash. One-time cash. Still, let’s do our best with it.”

Councillor Cut Taxes: “A property tax cut is the only way to go. People hate paying tax.”

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture: “Now, this is one-time cash. Are you suggesting a one-time property tax cut?

Councillor Cut Taxes: “Right. Do you know how angry people would get if you lowered their property tax bill and then jacked it up the next year?”

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture: “We do not have the data we need to make a decision on property tax rates. By the end of 2022, we will have a a Memorandum of Agreement with Houston’s government about the every-year cash they will transfer to us. We should not make long-term decisions with short-term information.”

Councillor Cut Taxes: “It is an easy call. Lower the property tax rates and we look like a fiscally responsible Council. People will love us.”

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture : “So, we have been telling the provincial government, for decades, that we do not have enough money to provide even the most basic of services to the people of CBRM, but now that we have a little money, we will hand it out to homeowners. If we really cannot pay for the services we are supposed to, why on earth would we cut our incoming revenue?”

Councillor Cut Taxes: “People like tax cuts. They are good for business.”

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture : “They do. But we have potholes that are dark and deep on our roads. We have commissioned, and paid for, three different reports in the last ten years that all tell us we need a new central library.

Thirty-two percent of our children live in poverty - Canada rescued 435,000 children from a life of poverty between 2015 and 2019, while our children stayed in poverty. You know these things.”

Councillor Cut Taxes: “But lower taxes are good for everybody.”

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture: “They are good for some people. But we have too many people, especially seniors - more than twenty percent of seniors in CBRM live in poverty - and children hovering around the poverty line. Maybe we could charge higher property tax rates to expensive properties and lower the rate for others, making the system more fair?

Councillor Cut Taxes: Wealthy people should not have to pay a higher rate.

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture: “Why not? It is not ideal but it it more fair than asking others to pay what they cannot afford. It would be a property tax collection that reflects the reality of our communities.

We should work within our context.

-Decent roads benefit everybody, including the tourists who we want to visit us. Tourists leaving Nova Scotia complain about our highways (provincial) and roads. And potholes.

- Modern libraries are hubs that help kids living in poverty - again, thirty-two percent of our kids are disadvantaged.

- Newcomers are heavy users of modern libraries too. Let’s build a CBRM with meaningful community services.”

Councillor Cut Taxes: “Maybe we should provide the basic services we are supposed to before lowering taxes. It is weird that the library has buckets on the floor to catch the rain that flows in through the ceiling. At least, we should wait for the Houston MOA.”

Councillor Let’s Look at the Big Picture warily waltzes away.